Method and device for managing identifier of ue in edge computing service

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a method and device for providing an edge computing service to a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, and more particularly, to a method and device for managing an identifier of a wireless communication UE so as to provide an edge computing service to the UE. A method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a method for managing an identifier of a UE in an edge enabler server of an edge computing system, and the method may comprise the operations of: receiving a first message via a mobile communication network from a UE of a mobile communication system, wherein the first message includes a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI) of the UE, and the received identifier of the UE identifies validity on the basis of a previously received profile of the UE; if the identifier of the UE is valid, binding and storing the identifier of the UE and a UE IP address based on the received first message; and if the identifier of the UE is valid, transmitting a first response message to the UE.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a 371 of International Application No.PCT/KR2020/006147, filed May 11, 2020, which claims priority to KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2019-0055272, filed May 10, 2019, and KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2019-0078131, filed Jun. 28, 2019, thedisclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for providing anedge computing service to a UE in a communication system and, moreparticularly, to a method and an apparatus for managing an identifier ofa UE to provide an edge computing service to a wireless communicationUE.

2. Description of Related Art

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased sincedeployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made todevelop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5Gor pre-5G communication system is also called a “Beyond 4G Network” or a“Post LTE System”.

The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higherfrequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higherdata rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increasethe transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna,an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in5G communication systems.

In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system networkimprovement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radioaccess networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D)communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperativecommunication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-endinterference cancellation and the like.

In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and slidingwindow superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation(ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multipleaccess (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advancedaccess technology have also been developed.

An edger computing technology for transmitting data through an edgeserver is recently discussed. The edge computing technology may include,for example, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) or fog computing. Theedge computing technology may be a technology for providing data to anelectronic device through a separate server (hereinafter, referred to asan edge server or an MEC server) installed geographically close to theelectronic device, for example, within a base station or near the basestation. For example, an application requiring low latency among atleast one application installed in the electronic device may transmitand receive data through an edge server installed at a geographicallyclose location without passing through a server located in an externalData Network (DN) (for example, Internet).

SUMMARY

However, discussion to apply the edge computing technology to the UserEquipment (UE) in the mobile communication system is in progress.Accordingly, when the edge computing service is provided to the UE inthe mobile communication system, a method and an apparatus for managingan identifier of the UE and a signaling method thereof are needed.

The disclosure provides a method and an apparatus for managing anidentifier of the UE in the mobile communication system and a signalingmethod thereof in the edge computing system.

A method according to an embodiment of the disclosure is a method ofmanaging an identifier of a UE by an edge enabler server in an edgecomputing system, and the method includes: receiving a first messagefrom the UE of a mobile communication system through a mobilecommunication network, the first message including a Generic PublicSubscription Identifier (GPSI) of the UE; identifying validity of thereceived identifier of the UE, based on a pre-received profile of theUE; binding and storing an IP address of the UE based on the receivedfirst message and the identifier of the UE when the identifier of the UEis valid; and transmitting a first response message to the UE when theidentifier of the UE is valid.

An apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure is anapparatus of an edge enabler server in an edge computing system, and theapparatus includes: an interface configured to communicate with a mobilecommunication network; a memory configured to store an identifier of aUE in the mobile communication network; and at least one processor, and

the at least one processor

performs control to receive a first message from the UE in the mobilecommunication system through the interface, the first message includinga Generic Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) of the UE, identifyvalidity of the received identifier of the UE, based on a pre-receivedprofile of the UE, bind an IP address of the UE based on the receivedfirst message and the identifier of the UE when the identifier of the UEis valid and store the bound information in the memory, and transmit afirst response message to the UE when the identifier of the UE is valid.

According to the disclosure, a method and an apparatus for managing anidentifier of a UE in a mobile communication system and a signalingmethod thereof may be provided in an edge computing system. Accordingly,an edge computing service may be provided to the UE in the mobilecommunication system.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, an edge computing platformmay provide a capability exposure Application Program Interface (API)for an edge computing service to a 3rd application server operating ininfrastructure of an edge data network to which the edge computingplatform belongs.

According to the disclosure, the edge computing platform may manage anID of the UE through the method proposed in the embodiment of thedisclosure, and provide required information by using a networkcapability exposure API of the mobile communication system, for example,the 3GPP system, for the capability exposure API requested by a 3rdapplication server on the basis of the ID.

Further, the capability exposure API which the edge computing platformprovides to the 3rd application server has the following effects. First,the 3rd application server may use a useful capability exposure functionin the corresponding edge data network. For example, an API foridentifying the location of the UE, an API for identifying a connectionstate of the UE, and the like may be used. They may be used to provide abetter service by the 3rd application server. Second, the 3rdapplication server may use the capability exposure function only througha contract with an edge computing platform provider without any servicelevel agreement for performing the network capability exposure by directnegotiation with the mobile communication system, for example, the 3GPPsystem. Accordingly, the edge computing platform provider may providethe capability exposure function without any additional effort of the3rd application server, and thus have business earnings due thereto.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, an edge computing platformmay directly allocate an identifier of the UE used when providing acapability exposure Application Program Interface (API) for an edgecomputing service to a 3rd application server operating ininfrastructure of an edge data network to which the edge computingplatform belongs. The edge computing platform may be a platform functionof a system to which edge servers included in the edge network areconnected. Accordingly, the edge computing platform may be an edgeenabler server connected to the edge server or a server for implementinga platform in which edge servers operate.

At this time, when allocating UE identifiers, the edge computingplatform may allocate different UE identifiers to respective 3rdapplications, and accordingly the UE identifiers are not shared between3rd applications. Therefore, when the ‘capability exposure ApplicationProgram Interface (API)’ for acquiring information on the UE is providedto a 3rd application, privacy of the UE identifier may be secured andthus the corresponding information may be prevented from being misusedor tracked by a 3rd application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a structure of an MEC platform which can interworkwith a 3GPP mobile communication system and a connection betweenelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 1B illustrates deployment of a user plane of the 3GPP network andan edge data network in one service provider network according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an edge enabling serveraccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which the UEaccesses the edge enabling server according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process of providing an edgeapplication service to a mobile communication UE through the edgeenabling server according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process of providing an edgecomputing service using an identifier allocated to the UE in the MECnetwork according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process of providing an edgecomputing service by using an identifier of the UE identified in an edgecomputing platform according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are control flowcharts illustrating a process in whichthe edge enabling server manages the identifier of the UE capable ofreceiving the MEC service according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a control flowchart illustrating a process in which the edgeenabling server provides information on the UE to the edge applicationserver according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 9A is a control flowchart illustrating a process in which the edgemanagement server allocates an identifier to the UE according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 9B is a control flowchart illustrating a process in which the edgeenabling server provides an edge service API from an edge applicationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIGS. 10A to 10C are control flowcharts illustrating a process in whichthe edge enabling server manages an identifier to allow the mobilecommunication UE to receive the MEC service according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the edge enabler server according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 is an internal block diagram of the UE according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should benoted that, in the drawings, the same or like elements are designated bythe same or like reference signs as much as possible. Further, adetailed description of known functions or configurations that may makethe subject matter of the disclosure unclear will be omitted.

In describing embodiments of the disclosure, descriptions related totechnical contents well-known in the art and not associated directlywith the disclosure will be omitted. Such an omission of unnecessarydescriptions is intended to prevent obscuring of the main idea of thedisclosure and more clearly transfer the main idea.

For the same reason, in the accompanying drawings, some elements may beexaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated. Further, the size ofeach element does not completely reflect the actual size. In thedrawings, identical or corresponding elements are provided withidentical reference numerals.

The advantages and features of the disclosure and ways to achieve themwill be apparent by making reference to embodiments as described belowin detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, thedisclosure is not limited to the embodiments set forth below, but may beimplemented in various different forms. The following embodiments areprovided only to completely disclose the disclosure and inform thoseskilled in the art of the scope of the disclosure, and the disclosure isdefined only by the scope of the appended claims. Throughout thespecification, the same or like reference numerals designate the same orlike elements.

Here, it will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions.These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerusable or computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable orcomputer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture includinginstruction means that implement the function specified in the flowchartblock or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loadedonto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Further, each block of the flowchart illustrations may represent amodule, segment, or portion of code, which includes one or moreexecutable instructions for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s). It should also be noted that in some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact beexecuted substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved.

As used herein, the “unit” refers to a software element or a hardwareelement, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs apredetermined function. However, the “unit” does not always have ameaning limited to software or hardware. The “unit” may be constructedeither to be stored in an addressable storage medium or to execute oneor more processors. Therefore, the “unit” includes, for example,software elements, object-oriented software elements, class elements ortask elements, processes, functions, properties, procedures,sub-routines, segments of a program code, drivers, firmware,micro-codes, circuits, data, database, data structures, tables, arrays,and parameters. The elements and functions provided by the “unit” may beeither combined into a smaller number of elements, or a “unit”, ordivided into a larger number of elements, or a “unit”. Moreover, theelements and “units” or may be implemented to reproduce one or more CPUswithin a device or a security multimedia card.

The disclosure discloses the content in which a UE establishes a dataconnection to an edge data network located close to the UE in order touse a low-latency or broadband service in a communication system.Further, the disclosure discloses a technology of accessing a 3rdapplication server operating on an edge computing platform managed inthe corresponding edge data network to use a data service. Thedisclosure discloses the content for mobile edge computing.

The disclosure discloses a method of managing an identifier of the UE tosupport an edge computing service and a method of providing the methodto a 3rd application server operating on an edge computing platform.

The UE accesses a 3rd application server (hereinafter, referred to as anedge application server) operating on an edge computing platform to usean edge computing service. According to an embodiment, the edgeapplication server may acquire required information for the UE through acapability exposure application program interface (hereinafter, referredto a “capability exposure API”) provided by the edge computing platform.According to another embodiment, the edge application server maytransmit a request for the UE to the edge computing platform by usingthe capability exposure API provided by the edge computing platform.

According to an embodiment, in order to provide the capability exposureAPI, the edge computing platform may be connected to a 3GPP system anduse an external network capability exposure API provided by the 3GPPsystem. In addition, the edge computing platform should use the externalnetwork capability exposure API of the 3GPP system corresponding to thecapability exposure API requested by the edge application server.However, since the edge application server cannot know an identifier(ID) used by the UE in the 3GPP system, the edge application servercannot make a request for the capability exposure API to the edgecomputing platform on the basis of an ID of the UE which the 3GPP systemcan recognize. Therefore, the edge computing platform cannot determinewhich UE ID has to be used for the external network capability exposureAPI provided by the 3GPP system. As a result, a capability exposurefunction cannot be supported. In order to solve the problem, the edgecomputing platform should provide a method of identifying the UE betweenthe edge application server and the 3GPP system to support thecapability exposure.

In a 3GPP next-generation communication system, continuous discussion ofarchitecture for implementing an edge computing service is taking place.The edge computing technology may be called mobile edge computing ormulti-access edge computing, and is referred to as “MEC” in thedisclosure for convenience. MEC may install a wireless base station or agateway (or UPF) close to the wireless base station. Further, MEC mayapply a distributed cloud computing technology to the gateway (or UPF)to provide various services and caching content near a user terminal.Accordingly, it is possible to mitigate congestion of a mobile corenetwork and achieve low-latency communication in data communication withthe UE. Further, it is possible to create a new service on the basis ofthe network. An MEC system may provide a cloud computing capability andan IT service environment to an application developer or a contentprovider in a mobile network edge. Particularly, a method of providingsuper low-latency and large bandwidths to applications and approachingnetwork information in real time may be provided. Accordingly,applications providing the MEC service may provide a more rapid serviceto the UE when a 5G network system among mobile communication networksis used. Further, the 5G network system may provide a function by whichthe UE using the MEC service accesses the MEC system. Not only the 5Gnetwork system but also a 4G network system may provide the function forthe MEC service.

For convenience of the description, the disclosure uses terms and namesdefined in the 3rd generation partnership project long term evolution(3GPP LTE). However, the disclosure is not limited to the terms andnames, and may be equally applied to a system following anotherstandard.

FIG. 1A illustrates a structure of an MEC platform which can interworkwith a 3GPP mobile communication system and a connection betweenelectronic devices according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

A network entity or network nodes according to the disclosure aredescribed with reference to FIG. 1A. According to the disclosure, anetwork structure for providing the MEC service to the mobilecommunication UE may have the following configurations.

For example, electronic devices 110 and 120 capable of accessing amobile communication network, for example, a 3GPP network, the 3GPPnetwork 130, and an edge computing platform 200 for providing the MECservice, and an edge management server 140.

The electronic devices 110 and 120 capable of accessing the 3GPP networkmay be generally referred to as User Equipments (UEs), and maycorrespond to any type of electronic device capable of accessing the 3GPnetwork 130. Hereinafter, the electronic devices 110 and 120 arereferred to as UEs for convenience of description. The UEs 110 and 120may be directly connected to the 3GPP network 130 or may be connected tothe 3GPP network 130 through a wireless WiFi network. In the example ofFIG. 1A, a first UE 110 and a second UE 120 are described.

A first application (App1) 111 and a second application (App2) 112capable of receiving an NEC service using an edge computing platform maybe installed within the first UE 110. The UEs 110 and 120 supporting theMEC system service may include edge enabling layers 113 and 123 withinthe UEs. Accordingly, the edge enabling layer 113 within the first UE110 may be a layer mutually interworking with the edge enabling server210 of the edge computing platform 200. A 3GPP communication layer 114within the first UE 110 may be a layer for communication with the 3GPPnetwork 130. Each of the first application (App1) 111 and the secondapplication (App2) 112 included in the first UE 110 may be anapplication client.

In order to use the MEC service within the first UE 110, the edgeenabling layer 113 may identify which application can use the MECservice. The edge enabling layer 113 may perform an operation of makinga connection to a network interface such that data of a UE clientapplication program data can be transmitted to an application server201, 202, or 203 providing the MEC service. Further, in order toestablish a data connection for using the MEC service, the edge enablinglayer 113 may enable communication through a 3GPP communication layer114. The 3GPP communication layer 114 may include a modem for using amobile communication system and logic for processing a wireless signal.The 3GPP communication layer 114 may serve to establish a wirelessconnection for data communication, register a UE in a mobilecommunication system, establish a connection for data transmission to amobile communication system, and transmit and receive data. The edgeenabling layer 113 performs an operation for providing an edge servicethrough the edge enabling server 210 and thus may be called an edgeenabler client.

The first UE 110 may further include a wireless WiFi layer (not shown).When the first UE 110 has a wireless WiFi layer, the first UE may accessthe 3GPP network 130 through the wireless WiFi layer.

Within the first UE 110, only the application, the edge enabling layer113 for enabling the MEC service, and the communication layer 114 foraccessing the mobile communication system are illustrated. The first UE110 may further include other elements.

The applications 111 and 112 of the first UE 110 means applicationsprovided by 3rd parties. That is, they may mean client applicationprograms executed within the first UE 110 for particular applicationservices. Accordingly, a plurality of applications may be executedwithin the first UE 110. Among the applications, one or moreapplications may use the MEC service. The first UE 110 may include anedge enabling layer.

The second UE 120 may have a configuration that is the same as orsimilar to the first UE 110. In the example of FIG. 1A, the case inwhich a first application (App1) 121 and a third application (App3) 122are installed in the second UE 120. The first application (App1) 111within the first UE 110 and the first application (App1) 121 within thesecond UE 120 may be the same applications. The different referencenumerals thereof are to identify that they are installed in the first UE110 and the second UE 120. The edge enabling layer 123 within the secondUE 120 may be a layer mutually interworking with the edge enablingserver 210 of the edge computing platform 200. A 3GPP communicationlayer 124 within the second UE 120 may be a layer for communication withthe 3GPP network 130. The 3GPP communication layer 124 may be a layerthat performs a procedure for accessing the 3GPP network 130 by thesecond UE 110, a procedure for transmitting and receiving a data packet,and the like. The second UE 120 may also further include a wireless WiFilayer (not shown). When the second UE 120 has a wireless WiFi layer, thesecond UE may access the 3GPP network 130 through the wireless WiFilayer.

Subsequently, the 3GPP mobile communication network 130 may include thefollowing network entities (functions).

The 5G-RAN 131 may be a base station providing a wireless communicationfunction to the UE. An example of the 5G-RAN 131 is described in moredetail with reference to FIG. 1B.

A Non-3GPP Inter-Working Function (N3IWF) 138 may be an interworkingentity for allowing the UE to access a mobile communication network, forexample, 5G network when performing access using a wireless functionwhich is not a mobile communication network (non-3GPP) such as WiFi orthe like. For example, the UEs 110 and 120 may access the N3IWF 138through a WiFi AP (not shown), and the UEs 110 and 120 and the N3IWF 138may establish IP secure tunnel connections. Thereafter, all signalingsbetween the UEs 110 and 120 and the N3IWF 138 may be connected to theAMF 133 of the mobile communication network, for example, 5G networkthrough the N3IWF 138. Further, the N3IWF 138 may establish a user planeconnection with the UPF 132. Accordingly, a packet or data transmittedby the UEs 110 and 120 may be transmitted to the UPF 132 via the N3IWF138 through a WiFi AP (not shown). Therefore, the UPF 132 may transmit apacket to a data network.

The User Plane Function (UPF) 132 may serve as a gateway for deliveringa packet transmitted and received by the UE 110 or 120. The UPF 132 maybe located near the edge server in order to support MEC. Through the useof the UPF 132, it is possible to directly transmit a data packettransmitted by the UE 110 or 120 to the edge network and thus achievelow-latency transmission. The UPF 132 may be connected to a data networkconnected through the Internet. Accordingly, the UPF 132 may route datathat should be transmitted through the Internet to an Internet datanetwork among packets transmitted by the UEs 110 and 120.

An Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 133 may be a networkentity for managing mobility of the UE 110 or 120.

A Network Exposure Function (NEF) 134 can access information formanaging the UE in the 5G network, and may subscribe to a mobilitymanagement event of the corresponding UE, subscribe to a sessionmanagement event of the corresponding UE, make a request forsession-related information, configure charging information of thecorresponding UE, make a request for changing a PDU session policy forthe corresponding UE, and transmit small data for the corresponding UE.Here, the NEF 134 is indicated as one function, but may be one networkentity for performing the same. For example, the NEF 134 may be onenetwork entity for a connection between the 3GPP network and anothernetwork. Hereinafter, the NEF 134 is described for convenience ofdescription, but a specific server or a network device may be realizedin the implementation. Accordingly, the NEF 134 may be understood as onenetwork device.

A Policy and Charging Function (PCF) 135 may be a network entity ofapplying a service policy of a mobile communication service provider forthe UEs 110 and 120, a charging policy, and a policy for a PDU session.Here, the PCF 135 is indicated as one function, but may be one networkentity for performing the same. Hereinafter, the PCF 135 is describedfor convenience of description, but a specific server or network devicemay be realized in the implementation. Accordingly, the PCF 135 may beunderstood as one network device.

A Session Management Function (SMF) 136 may be a network entity ofmanaging a connection of a packet data network for providing packet datato the UEs 110 and 120. The connection between the UEs 110 and 120 andthe SMF 136 may be a PDU session. Hereinafter, the SMF 136 is describedfor convenience of description, but a specific server or network devicemay be realized in the implementation. Accordingly, the SMF 136 may beunderstood as one network device.

Unified Data Management (UDM) 137 may be a network entity that storesinformation on a subscriber. Here, the UDM 137 is indicated as onefunction, but may be one network entity for performing the same.Hereinafter, the UDM 137 is described for convenience of description,but a specific server or network device may be realized in theimplementation. Accordingly, the UDM 137 may be understood as onenetwork device.

Subsequently, network entities for providing an edge computing serviceare described.

The MEC system structure may include the UEs 110 and 120, the edgeenabling server 210, and the edge management server 140. The edgeenabling server 210 may be a server configuring an edge computingplatform 200 of an edge data network. The edge enabling server 210 maybe a server which the UE accesses to use the MEC service and may know inadvance which third application server 201, 202, or 203 is operatingwithin the corresponding edge computing platform 200. The edge enablingserver 210 may perform an operation of connecting 3rd applicationclients of the UEs 110 and 120 and the 3rd application servers 201, 202,and 203 within the edge computing platform 200 by negotiating with theUEs 110 and 120. The edge enabling server 210 may be called an edgeenabler or an edge enabler server.

The edge management server 140 performs a function for transmittingconfiguration information for using the MEC service to the UEs 110 and120. The edge management server serves to configure information requiredfor the UEs 110 and 120, and thus may be called an edge configurationserver or an edge data network configuration server. In the followingdescription, unless specially mentioned, an edge management server, anedge configuration server, or an edge data network configuration servermay be used as the same meaning.

The edge management server 140 may know in advance deploymentinformation of the edge enabling servers 210. Before using the MECservice, the UEs 110 and 120 may access the edge management server 140to receive configuration information required for using the MEC service,for example, information on the edge enabling server 210 which should beaccessed at a specific location. Further, there may be a DNS server forthe MEC service. When there is a DNS server for the MEC service, the DNSserver may be used to resolve an IP address of the edge enabling server210 or resolve an IP address of the application server 201, 202, or 203on the edge enabling server 210. The DNS server may be a network entitythat may know information on the edge enabling server 210 or informationon the application servers 201, 202, and 203 operating on the edgeenabling server 210. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, theDNS server may exist in every edge enabling network covering a specificarea. According to another embodiment of the disclosure, only one DNSserver may exist in the entire MEC system. The edge management server140 may configure information on the DNS server for each location in theUE.

Edge application servers (hereafter, referred to as Edge Apps) 201, 202,and 203 are 3rd application servers operating within the MEC system. Inother words, the edge application server may be a 3rd application serveroperating on infra-structure provided by the edge computing platform200. The 3rd application server may provide a service at a locationclose to the UE 110 or 120 and thus provide a super low-latency service.The Edge Apps 201, 202, and 203 may acquire information required forproviding a service to the UE by using a capability exposure APIprovided by the edge computing platform 200 or provide the same to theedge computing platform 200. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, although it is illustrated that the edge enabling server 210provides the capability exposure API to the Edge Apps 201, 202, and 203,another function within the edge computing platform 200 may provide thecorresponding API. In the embodiment of FIG. 1A, the edge enablingserver 210 provides the capability exposure API to the Edge Apps 201,202, and 203 for convenience. However, another function (or entity)within the edge computing platform 200 may provide the capabilityexposure API to the Edge Apps 201, 202, and 203. At this time, the edgeenabling server 210 may be replaced with and used as a name performinganother function.

The edge management server 140 may be connected to the edge enablingserver 210 and transmit information or a policy required to provide theMEC service to the UEs 110 and 120. Further, the edge management server140 may provide information on the UEs 110 and 120 to the edge enablingserver 210, so that the enabling server 201 may use the information whenproviding the MEC service to the UEs 110 and 120. For example,authentication/authorization information of the UEs 110 and 120,information on a service to which the UE subscribes, an ID of the UE,and the like may be transmitted to the edge enabling server 210.

FIG. 1B illustrates deployment of a user plane of the 3GPP network andan edge data network in one service provider network according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1B, a service area 160 of a Mobile Network Operator(MNO) 160 includes a first edge data network 161 and a second edge datanetwork 162.

First, the configuration of the first edge data network 161 isdescribed. In the first edge data network 161, the first UE 110 and thesecond UE 120 may perform wireless communication through different basestations 151 and 152. The respective base stations 151 and 152 mayaccess different UPFs 132 a and 132 b. However, one edge data networkmay have one edge enabling server 210 a, and the UPFs 132 a and 132 bmay access an edge computing infra 161 a through one edge enablingserver 210 a located within the first edge data network 161. Further,the 3rd application servers 201 and 202 may operate on the edgecomputing infra 161 a, and the operation may be performed as illustratedin FIG. 1A.

Subsequently, in the second edge data network 162, the third UE 111 maycommunicate within the network. A base station 153 included in thesecond edge data network 162 may be connected to the edge enablingserver 210 b through the UPF 132 c and may be connected to the edgecomputing infra 162 b. The 3rd application servers 2101 and 202operating on the edge computing infra 162 b may provide the MEC serviceto the UE 111 located within the second edge data network 162.

The edge computing infra 161 a and 162 b may reduce latency and load toprovide an efficient service by placing UE access points to be close andmay be a server providing an environment for providing a functionrequired for the operation of the edge application.

The UEs 110 and 120 may access a mobile communication system, forexample, a 5G system through a base station of a mobile communicationnetwork, for example, a 5G base station (not shown in FIG. 1A) andestablish a data connection. In the following description, it is assumedthat the mobile communication network is a 5G network or a 5G system.The 5G system may allocate the UPF 132 which can access thecorresponding edge network in order to provide the MEC service to theUEs 110 and 120. The UEs 110 and 120 may communicate with the edgeenabling server 210 through the UPF 132. Further, the UEs 110 and 120may acquire predetermined information, for example, available Edge Appinformation from the edge enabling server 210. Accordingly, the UEs 110and 120 may perform data communication on the basis of the receivedavailable Edge App information. The edge enabling server 210 may performa function of managing information on the edge application servers 201,202, and 203, and provide information on which edge application is beingexecuted in the current edge network to the UEs 110 and 120. Further,the edge enabling server 210 may manage a Fully Qualified Domain Name(FQDN) or an IP address required for transmitting data to thecorresponding edge application server. As described above, theinformation managed by the edge enabling server 210 may be transmittedto an edge enabling layer of the corresponding UE.

The edge enabling server 210 may communicate with the PCF 135 or the NEF134 of the 3GPP network and exchange predetermined information duringcommunication. Such an information exchange is referred to asnegotiation hereinafter. The edge enabling server 210 may provideinformation required when the UEs 110 and 120 uses the MEC service tothe 5G mobile communication system via the PCF 135 or the NEF 134through negotiation with the PCF 135 or the NEF 134 of the 3GPP network.According to another embodiment, the edge enabling server 210 may use anexposure function which the NEF 134 of the 5G mobile communicationsystem provides to an external server through negotiation with the PCF135 or the NEF 134 of the 3GPP network, for example, UE locationreporting, UE session-related event reporting, and the like.

The edge enabling server 210 may provide a capability exposure serviceto the Edge App being executed in the edge computing platform 200 on thebasis of the function. For example, a service of identifying thelocation of the UE, a service of identifying a connection state of theUE, and the like may be included. Further, the edge enabling server 210may perform a proxy role to use an exposure function which the 3GPPnetwork 130, for example, the NEF 134 of the 5G mobile communicationsystem provides to the edge application servers 201, 202, and 203.According to various embodiments, the exposure function provided by theNEF 134 may be a UE mobility-related event, a session-related event, aUE traffic path change event, or the like.

According to a request from the edge application server, the edgeenabling server 210 may call the exposure service provided by the NEF134 of the 5G mobile communication system or the required networkexposure function. Further, platform services provided using the 5Gsystem, for example, reporting of a network condition, a UE traffic pathchange request, reporting of UE location information, and the like maybe provided to the edge application servers 201, 202, and 203.

The edge enabling server 210 illustrated in FIG. 1A may be one networkfunction (entity) providing the above-described function. Accordingly,it may be called an edge enabling function. In the disclosure, the edgeenabling server is not limited to the name, and it is apparent that theedge enabling server may be a logical device, a network entity, or anetwork function existing for the MEC service performing a functionlogically handled in the disclosure.

A platform function (functionality) is not illustrated in FIG. 1A, butmay be a platform function of a system to which the edge enablingservers 210 included in the edge network are connected and maycorrespond to an orchestration function. The platform function or theorchestration function may include a middleware application or aninfrastructure service for configuring the MEC system structure. Thatis, an operation for deploying and distributing the edge enablingservers 210 included in the edge network, installing or injecting anedge application package in the edge enabling server 210 or operatingthe edge application server in the edge enabling server 210 andinformation on the edge application server (for example, IP address andFQDN) may be configured in the edge enabling server.

FIG. 1B illustrates the case in which a user plane of the 3GPP networkand an edge data network are deployed in one service provider networkaccording to the disclosure.

The case in which the user plane of the 3GPP network and the edge datanetwork are deployed in one service provider network according to thedisclosure and an operation of the MEC service according thereto aredescribed in more detail with reference to FIG. 1B.

As illustrated in the first edge data network 161, a plurality of UPFs132 a and 132 b of the 3GPP network may be deployed in one edgecomputing data network. Accordingly, one UPF close to the UE may beselected according to the location of the UE in one edge computing datanetwork. That is, for the UE accessing the same edge computing datanetwork to use the MEC service, a UPF serving the corresponding UE maybe changed. The change in the UPF may mean a change in an IP address ofthe UE.

As illustrated in the second edge data network 162, one UPF 132 c of the3GPP network may be deployed in one edge computing data network.Accordingly, for one edge computing data network, one UPF may beselected. That is, in the case of the second edge data network 162, theUE accessing the second edge data network 162 to use the MEC service isonly the UPF, and thus the IP address may be used without any changewhen the corresponding edge computing data network is used.

The UE may establish a PDU session through the 3GPP network, and the PDUsession may be connected to the base station and the UPF via the UE. TheUPF is connected to the edge data network, and thus may transmit data toan application server (edge application server) operating in the edgedata network. Accordingly, the UE may transmit/receive data to/from atleast one edge application server operating in the edge computing infra.

The UE may negotiate with the edge enabling server and receive (acquire)information on the edge application server operating in the edge datanetwork. At this time, data on negotiation between the UE and the edgeenabling server may be transmitted through the user plane of the 3GPPsystem, that is, the PDU session via the base station and the UPF. Theedge enabling server may acquire information on edge applicationservers, expose a network capability to the edge application server, orexpose a service for edge computing.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an edge enabling serveraccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the edge enabling server 210 may include aninternal communication interface 211, a controller 212, an externalinterface 213, and a memory 214. In addition, the edge enabling server210 may include separate devices or access devices by which an operatoror a network manager controls the edge enabling server 210. Further, theedge enabling server 210 may further have other networks and additionalinterfaces as well as the interfaces illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2illustrates only interfaces for performing the operation according tothe disclosure.

The internal communication interface 211 may interface with one or moreedge application servers on the basis of the control of the controller212. For example, the internal communication interface 211 may processdata or signaling required for communication between the first edgeapplication server 201 and the edge enabling server 210 on the basis ofthe control of the controller 212. In another example, the internalcommunication interface 211 may process data or signaling required forcommunication between the second edge application server 202 and/or thethird edge application server 203 and the edge enabling server 210 onthe basis of the control of the controller 212.

The controller 212 may control the overall operation performed by theedge enabling server 210, and may include one or more processors. Thecontroller 212 may transmit/receive data to/from a specific edgeapplication server through the internal communication interface 211.Further, the controller 212 may communicate with the UE and/or the 3GPPnetwork through the external communication interface 213 and provide oracquire predetermined information. In addition, the controller 212 maycontrol the operation performed by the edge enabling server 210described in the disclosure.

The external interface 213 may include a first interface 213 a, a secondinterface 213 b, and a third interface 213 c. The first interface 213 amay communicate with at least one of control plane nodes of the 3GPPnetwork on the basis of the control of the controller 212. The controlplane nodes of the 3GPP network may be at least one of the AMF 133, theNEF 134, the PCF 135, the SMF 136, and the UDM 137 of FIG. 1A. The firstinterface 213 a may communicate with at least one of the control planenodes.

The second interface 213 b may communicate with at least one of the userplane nodes of the 3GPP network on the basis of the control of thecontroller 212. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, the secondinterface may communicate with the UPFs 132 a, 132 b, and 132 ccorresponding to the user plane nodes. Further, the second interface maycommunicate with the UPF corresponding to the case in which one UE moveswithin the same edge data network and the UPF is changed. In anotherexample, the second interface may communicate with the UPF correspondingto the case in which one UE moves to another edge data network forexample, the case in which the UE moves from the first edge data network161 to the second edge data network 162 or from the second edge datanetwork 162 to the first edge data network 161.

The memory 214 may temporarily store the operation required for thecontrol of the edge enabling server 210 and data generated by thecontrol on the basis of the control of the controller 212. Further, thememory 214 may receive data from the edge enabling server 210 describedin the disclosure or store data required for transmission on the basisof the control of the controller 212. In addition, the memory 214 maystore only identifier information of the UE or map the identifierinformation to other specific information and store the mappedinformation on the basis of the control of the controller 212.

FIG. 3 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which the UEaccesses the edge enabling server according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, the UE 110 is a UE including the edge enablinglayer 113 as illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B and it is assumed that atleast one application capable of receiving the MEC service according tothe disclosure is installed. It is assumed that the UE 110 is a UEcapable of accessing the 3GPP network 130 which is a mobilecommunication network.

In the disclosure, a Generic Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) maybe used as an identifier of the UE 110, which may be an identifier ofthe UE 110 used in the 5G system defined in the 3GPP. The GPSI maycorrespond to an external identifier (ID) used in the 3GPP system or aMobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN) corresponding to aphone number. The external identifier is an identifier defined toidentify an identifier (ID) assigned to the UE 110 by a 3rd serviceprovider within the 3GPP mobile communication network. In thedisclosure, an ID assigned to the UE 110 by an edge computing serviceprovider may be used as the external ID within the 3GPP system.Alternatively, an edge computing service provider may make a contactwith a 3GPP mobile communication service provider to pre-configure anexternal ID for a specific UE to be used. As described above, when thecontract with the 3GPP mobile communication service provider is made inadvance, the information may be stored in a subscriber informationserver (not shown) of the 3GPP mobile communication service provider.Alternatively, the edge computing service provider may use the MSISDN ofthe UE as the ID for identifying the UE.

A method of managing the identifier of the UE 110 is described on thebasis of the above description with reference to FIG. 3.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in order to use the MECservice, the UE 110 may perform a registration procedure in the edgeenabling server 210 to use the edge computing service in operation 300.The registration procedure may be performed by the generation of amessage by the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE 110 and thetransmission of the message to the 3GPP network 130 through the 3GPPcommunication layer 114. According to an embodiment of the disclosure,the 3GPP network 130 may transmit a message transmitted from the UE 110in the registration procedure to the edge enabling server 210 andtransmit a message transmitted from the edge enabling server 210 to theUE 110 through a radio channel.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the UE 110 mayperform a service discovery procedure with the edge enabling server 210in order to identify 3rd applications which can be used in the edgecomputing platform 200 which the UE accesses to use the MEC service. Atthis time, the UE 110 may transmit the message including the GPSIallocated to the UE to the edge enabling server 210. According to anembodiment of the disclosure, the 3GPP network 130 may transmit amessage transmitted from the UE 110 in the registration procedure to theedge enabling server 210 and transmit a message transmitted from theedge enabling server 210 to the UE 110 through a radio channel.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the GPSI of the UE 110 maybe information pre-configured in SIM information of the UE 110 orinformation configured in the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE 110.According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the GPSI may be a valuereceived from the 3GPP network when the UE 110 initially accesses the3GPP network.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may identify an ID of the UE, for example, the GPSI included in therequest message received from the UE 110 in operation 302.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive a user profile before the operation of FIG. 3. Forexample, an authentication/authorization operation of the UE may beperformed in advance, in which case the user profile may be received.Accordingly, the edge enabling server 210 may identify whether the GPSIidentified in operation 302 is included in the profile of the UEacquired in the previously performed authentication/authorizationprocedure of the UE 110. The profile may be information which the edgeenabling server 210 receives from the edge management server 140.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may determine whether the identified GPSI is a valid GPSI inoperation 302. For example, the GPSI of the profile of the UE 110received in the authentication/authorization procedure performed beforethe flowchart of FIG. 3 may be compared with the GPSI included in themessage received in operation 300 and validity may be determined. Forexample, when the pre-received GPSI is the same as the GPSI included inthe message received in operation 300, the edge enabling server 210 mayidentify that the GPSI is valid. On the other hand, when thepre-received GPSI is different from the GPSI included in the messagereceived in operation 300, the edge enabling server 210 may identifythat the GPSI is not valid.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the edgeenabling server 210 receives the profile of the UE 110 during theauthentication/authorization procedure or does not receive the same fromthe edge management server 140, operation 302 may not be performed.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may bind an IP address of the UE 110 and GPSI information of the UE110 on the basis of the message received in operation 300 and store theinformation in the memory 214 in operation 304. The information may beused to determine GPSI information of the UE 110 by the edge enablingserver 210 on the basis of the IP address of the UE 110 in the future.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may transmit a response to the message received in operation 300 tothe UE 110 in operation 306. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, when the GPSI information is valid and corresponds to aregistration request message, the response message may be a registrationapproval response. According to another embodiment of the disclosure,when the GPSI information is valid and corresponds to a servicediscovery message, the response message may be a response message of theservice type. For example, when the UE 110 performs registration, aresponse to the registration may be transmitted to the UE 110. Inanother example, when the UE 110 performs service discovery, informationon a 3rd application which the UE 110 can use through the edge computingservice and information for access to a 3rd application server (forexample, FQDN or IP address) may be transmitted as a response message.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE 110 performsregistration, operation 306 may be performed just after the registrationprocedure. According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when theUE 110 performs service discovery, information on the 3rd applicationand information for access to the 3rd application server (for example,FQDN or IP address) may be transmitted along with the response signal.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may be operated in operation 308 when there is no information on theGPSI in the message received from the UE 110 or there is no pre-storedGPSI information. That is, the edge enabling server 210 may be operatedwhen it cannot be determined whether the GPSI information received fromthe UE 110 is valid information. Accordingly, when it cannot bedetermined whether the GPSI information received from the UE 110 isvalid information, the edge enabling server 210 may not performoperations 308 to 314.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in order to identifyvalidity of the GPSI information included in the message received fromthe UE 110 in operation 308, the edge enabling server 210 may determinewhether to transmit a request for acquiring user information from the3GPP network 130 or determining validity of the user information.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 determines to identify validity of the GPSI transmitted bythe UE 110 or determines to acquire a profile for the GPSI transmittedby the UE 110 from the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabling server mayperform operation 310.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may transmit a query message for acquiring information on the UE 110to the 3GPP network 130 in operation 310. For example, the edge enablingserver 210 may transmit a request message for identifying the GPSI ofthe UE 110 or acquiring the profile for the GPSI of the UE 110 to theNEF 134 or the PCF 135 of the 3GPP network in operation 310. Accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 mayinsert an IP address of the UE 110 into the request message and transmitthe request message. According to another embodiment of the disclosure,the edge enabler server 210 may further insert a service provider ID foridentifying an edge computing service provider into the request messageand transmit the request message.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 can directly access the PCF 135, the edge enabling server 210may transmit the request message to the PCF 135 through an Npcf service.According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the edgeenabling server 210 cannot directly access the PCF 135, the edgeenabling server may transmit a request via the NEF 134.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the PCF 135 of the 3GPPnetwork 130 may have information on a session which the UE 110 iscurrently using. For example, the PCF 135 may have information on asession which the UE 110 is currently using through access to the edgecomputing data network. In this case, the PCF 135 may know the IPaddress which the UE 110 is using and also store the GPSI for thecorresponding UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the case in which the PCF135 has the corresponding information may be the case in which the PCF135 receives information on the corresponding UE from the SMF 136 andstores the same when a PDU session for the corresponding UE isestablished. Further, the PCF 135 may store policy information for theMEC service and a service parameter.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 transmits a request message through the NEF 134, the NEF 134may acquire the PCF 135 serving the IP address of the UE 110 received inoperation 312 through a Binding Support Function (BSF) or using localconfiguration. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134may configure a request received from the edge enabling server 210according to an Npcf service operation and transmit the same to the PCF135.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the edgeenabling server 210 directly transmits a request to the PCF 135, theedge enabling server 210 may discover the PCF 135 serving thecorresponding IP address through the BSF. In this case, the edgeenabling server 210 may directly configure a request message accordingto the Npcf service operation and transmit the request message to thePCF 135 in operation 312.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the message transmittedwhen the edge enabling server 210 transmits the request message to thePCF 135 through the NEF 134 or directly transmits the request message tothe PCF 135 in operation 312 may be a message including informationmaking a request for identifying the GPSI of the UE 110 or transmittingpolicy information or a user profile which can be used for the MECservice by the UE 110 for the IP address of the corresponding UE 110.Accordingly, the PCF 135 receiving the request message may search forthe GPSI corresponding to the UE IP address in operation 312. Further,the PCF 135 may configure policy information and/or the parameter forthe MEC service as a response message for the corresponding GPSI inoperation 312. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when therequest message received by the PCF 135 in operation 312 includesservice provider ID information, the PCF 135 may configure informationin consideration of policy information and/or parameter corresponding tothe service provider ID information or a profile of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the PCF 135 may directlytransmit the message configured in operation 314 to the edge enablingserver 210 as a response message. According to another embodiment of thedisclosure, the PCF 135 may transmit the response message to the edgeenabling server 210 through the NEF 134 in operation 314.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, it may be assumed that thePCF 135 knows mapping between an external UE IP address and an internalUE IP address. The assumption may be established because an IP addressused by the UE 110 inside the 3GPP network 130 and an IP address used bythe UE 110 outside the 3GPP network are different from each other. Thismay mean that there is a Network Address Translation (NAT) function(entity) in the data connection between the inside and the outside ofthe 3GPP network 130.

An embodiment of the disclosure may include a method by which the PCF135 negotiates with a server performing the NAT function to resolve theinternal IP address of the UE 110. Accordingly, although the IP addressof the UE 110 included in the request received by the PCF 135 is anexternal IP address, the PCF 135 may acquire an internal IP address ofthe UE 110 through the negotiation with a NAT function server (notshown). Further, the PCF 135 may acquire information on the UE 110, forexample, the GPSI, policy information, or the parameter.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134 mayacquire profile information of the UE 110 from the UDM 137 or the UDR(not shown). In this case, the NEF 134 may make a request for informingthe PCF 135 of the GPSI corresponding to the UE IP address and the PCF135 may replay a GPSI value mapped to the UE IP address and stored tothe NEF 134.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134 may make arequest for a user profile or a UE profile for the corresponding GPSI tothe UDM 137 or the UDR by using the GPSI value received from the PCF 135in operation 312. At this time, the NEF 134 may insert a serviceprovider ID for identifying an edge computing service provider receivedfrom the edge enabling server 210 into the request and transmit therequest to the UDN 137 or the UDR.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the UDM 137 or the UDRreceiving the request may search for a profile of the UE 110corresponding to the received GPSI, generate a message to be replied tothe NEF 134 on the basis of the found information, and transmit themessage to the NEF 134.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the UDM 137 or theUDR may search for a profile of the UE 110 corresponding to the serviceprovider ID included in the request from the NEF 134, configure aresponse message, and then reply the response message to the NEF 134.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134 receiving theresponse message according to the above-described method may transmitthe response message to the edge enabling server 210 in operation 314.According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the response message mayinclude the GPSI of the corresponding UE 110 or profile informationrequired by the corresponding UE 110 to use the MEC service.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 receiving the response in operation 314 may identify whether theGPSI received from the corresponding UE 110 in operation 300 is the sameas the GPSI received from the 3GPP network 130. When the two GPSIs arethe same as each other, the edge enabling server 210 may determine thatthe received GPSI received from the UE 110 in operation 300 is a validGPSI and store the GPSI in the memory 214. According to an embodiment ofthe disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may map the valid GPSI tothe IP address and store the mapped information in the memory 214.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enablingserver 210 may receive a profile for the corresponding GPSI, policyinformation, or a service parameter from the 3GPP network 130. In thiscase, the edge enabling server 210 may apply the same to the service forthe UE 110. For example, a premium subscriber may be identified to useall services of the MEC service and the corresponding information may bestored in the memory 214. According to an embodiment of the disclosure,a premium service may be a service which is not applied to a generalsubscriber.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, through the operationdescribed above, the edge application server 201 and the UE 110 maytransmit/receive data traffic in operation 320.

Hereinafter, the edge application server is described using the firstedge application server 210, and ordinal numbers such as first, second,and the like for distinguishing application servers or identifyingapplications installed in the UE 110 are not used for convenience ofdescription.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may call an edge service API provided by the edge enablingserver 210 to the edge enabling server 210 in operation 322. In thespecification according to the disclosure, the edge service API may bean API that provides a capability exposure function for an edgecomputing service to the 3rd application server 201 operating in edgecomputing infrastructure of the edge data network to which the edgeenabling server 210 belongs. For example, there may be a location APIfor detecting the location of the UE 110, a management API for managingresources of the UE 110, and a traffic steering API for modifying a datapath of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may detect edge service APIs provided by the edge enablingserver 210 through an API discovery procedure or a Common API Framework(CAPIF) function. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, whenmaking a request for the edge service API to the edge enabling server210, the edge application server 201 may include the IP address of theUE 110 which accessed itself since the edge application server cannotknow the identifier of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may acquire the identifier of the UE 110 corresponding to the IPaddress of the UE 110 received from the edge application server 201,that is, the GPSI from a mapping table in operation 324. Mappinginformation described in the specification according to the disclosuremay be information acquired through operation 302 to operation 314 andstored in the memory 214 of the edge enabling server 210.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, after acquiring the GPSIon the basis of the mapping information, the edge enabling server 210may call a 3GPP network capability exposure API for supporting the edgeservice API requested by the edge application server 201 on the basis ofthe ID of the UE 110 in operation 326. Further, according to anembodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may transmita request to the NEF 134 in operation 326.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may configure the GPSI as the ID of the UE 110 and transmit aservice operation request message to the NEF 134. According to anotherembodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enabling server 210 is anetwork entity which is reliable in the 3GPP network, the serviceoperation request message may be directly transmitted to the AMF 133,the SMF 136, or the PCF 135.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, whether the edge enablingserver 210 transmits the service operation request message to the AMF133, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 may be determined according to the typeof the 3GPP network capability exposure to be used by the edge enablingserver 210. For example, when information on the location of the UE 110is desired, it may be determined to transmit the service operationrequest message to the AMF 133. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, when the service operation request message is directlytransmitted to the AMF 133, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135, the edgeenabling server 210 may use the GPSI information acquired as the ID ofthe UE 110 in operation 324.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134, the AMF 133,the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 receiving the service operation requestmessage may perform a capability exposure operation for thecorresponding UE 110 according to the request. The NEF 134, the AMF 133,the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 may transmit the result to the edge enablingserver 210 in operation 328.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 328, the edgeenabling server 210 receiving the message may generate an edge serviceAPI response message on the basis of the result according to the APIrequested by the edge application server 201 in operation 322.Accordingly, the edge enabling server 210 may transmit the generatededge service API response message to the edge application server 201 inoperation 330.

According to the description of FIG. 3, when accessing the edge enablingserver 210, the UE 110 may use and register the GPSI used in the 3GPPnetwork as its own ID, and the edge enabling server 210 may support thecapability exposure API in the edge application server using the networkcapability exposure provided by the system of the 3GPP network 130.

FIG. 4 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process of providing an edgeapplication service to a mobile communication UE through the edgeenabling server according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

In a brief description of the overall operation of FIG. 4, when the UE110 accesses the edge enabling server 210, the edge enabling server 210may acquire a GPSI of the corresponding UE through signaling with the3GPP network 130 on the basis of the IP of the UE. Thereafter, the edgeenabling server 210 may support a capability exposure API to the edgeapplication server 201 by using the network capability exposure providedby the 3GPP network 130 on the basis of the acquired information.

In the disclosure, a Generic Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) maybe used as an identifier of the UE, which may be an identifier of the UEused in the 5G system defined in the 3GPP. The GPSI may correspond to anexternal identifier (ID) used in the 3GPP system or a Mobile StationInternational ISDN Number (MSISDN) corresponding to a phone number. Theexternal identifier is an identifier defined to identify an identifier(ID) assigned to the UE 110 by a 3rd service provider within the 3GPPmobile communication network. In the disclosure, an ID assigned to theUE 110 by an edge computing service provider may be used as the externalID within the 3GPP system. Alternatively, an edge computing serviceprovider may make a contact with a 3GPP mobile communication serviceprovider to pre-configure an external ID for a specific UE to be used.As described above, when the contract with the 3GPP mobile communicationservice provider is made in advance, the information may be stored in asubscriber information server (not shown) of the 3GPP mobilecommunication service provider. Alternatively, the edge computingservice provider may use the MSISDN of the UE as the ID for identifyingthe UE.

Hereinafter, the edge application server is described using the firstedge application server 201 and ordinal numbers such as first, second,and the like for distinguishing application servers or identifyingapplications installed in the UE 110 are not used for convenience ofdescription.

Hereinafter, the edge application server is described using the firstedge application server 210, and order numbers such as first, second,and the like for distinguishing application servers or identifyingapplications installed in the UE 110 are not used for convenience ofdescription.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in order to use the MECservice, the UE 110 may perform a registration procedure in the edgeenabling server 210 to use the edge computing service in operation 400.According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the UE 110 mayperform a service discovery procedure with the edge enabling server 210in order to identify 3rd applications which can be used in the edgecomputing platform 200 which the UE accesses to use the MEC service.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 402, the edgeenabling server 210 may store the IP address of the UE 110 transmittingthe message of operation 400. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, information on the IP address of the UE 110 may be used toacquire and store GPSI information of the UE 110 by the edge enablingserver 210 on the basis of the IP address of the UE 110 in the future.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 404, the edgeenabling server 210 may transmit a response to the message of operation400 to the UE 110. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, whenthe UE 110 performs registration, a response thereto may be transmitted.According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE 110performs service discovery, the edge enabling server 210 may insertinformation on the 3rd application server which can be used by the UE110 through the edge computing service and information for accessing tothe 3rd application server 201 (for example, FQDN or IP address) intothe response message and transmit the response message.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, for the IP addresstransmitted by the UE 110 in operation 400, the edge enabling server 210may determine whether to transmit a request to the 3GPP network 130 inorder to acquire user information corresponding to the corresponding IPaddress, for example, the GPSI and profile information correspondingthereto in operation 406.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may transmit a request message for identifying the GPSI of the UE110 or acquiring a profile for the GPSI of the UE 110 to the NEF 134 orthe PCF 135 in operation 406. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may insert the IP address ofthe UE 110 into the request message. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may include a serviceprovider ID for identifying an edge computing service provider.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 can directly access the PCF 135, the edge enabling server 210may transmit a request message to the PCF 135 through an Npcf service.According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the edgeenabling server 210 cannot directly access the PCF 135, the edgeenabling server may transmit the request message through the NEF 134.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the PCF 135 may haveinformation on a session which the UE 110 is currently using. Forexample, the PCF 135 may have information on a session which the UE 110is currently using through access to the edge computing data network.Accordingly, the PCF 135 may know the IP address used by the UE 110.Further, the PCF 135 may store the GPSI for the corresponding UE 110.The PCF 135 may receive the information from the SMF 136 and store thesame when a PDU session is established. Further, the PCF 135 may storepolicy information for the MEC service and a service parameter.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 transmits a request message through the NEF 134, the NEF 134may acquire the PCF 135 serving the IP address of the UE 110 received inoperation 408 through a Binding Support Function (BSF) or using localconfiguration. As a result, the NEF 134 may discover the PCF 135 servingthe UE 110. Accordingly, the NEF 134 may generate a response message ofthe request received from the edge enabling server 210 according to theservice operation of the NPCF 135 and transmit the response message tothe PCF 135.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the edgeenabling server 210 directly transmits the request to the PCF 135, theedge enabling server 210 may acquire information on the PCF 135 servingthe corresponding IP address through the BSF. The edge enabling server210 may directly configure and transmit the request message to the PCF135 according to the Npcf service operation.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the request message whichthe edge enabling server 210 transmits to the PCF 135 through the NEF134 or the edge enabling server 210 directly transmits to the PCF 135may be a request for identifying the GPSI of the UE 110 or a requestmessage for transmitting policy information or a user profile which canbe used by the UE 110 for the MEC service with respect to the IP addressof the corresponding UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the PCF 135 receiving therequest may acquire the GPSI corresponding to the IP address of the UE.According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the PCF 135 mayconfigure policy information or a parameter for the MEC service withrespect to the corresponding GPSI. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the request message received by the PCF 135includes service provider ID information, the PCF 135 may configure aresponse message by policy information, a parameter, or a profile of theUE 110 corresponding to the service provider ID.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the PCF 135 may configurethe information as a response message and transmit the response messageto the edge enabling server 210 in operation 410.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the messagecannot be directly transmitted to the edge enabling server 210, the PCF135 may transmit the response message to the edge enabling server 210through the NEF 134 in operation 410.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, it may be assumed that thePCF 135 knows mapping between an external UE IP address and an internalUE IP address. This is because the IP address used by the UE 110 insidethe 3GPP network 130 and the IP address used by the UE 110 outside the3GPP network 130 may be different. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, a Network Address Translation (NAT) function (or entity) mayexist in a data connection between the inside and the outside of the3GPP network 130.

An embodiment of the disclosure may include a method by which the PCF135 negotiates with a server performing the NAT function to resolve theexternal IP address of the UE 110. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the IP address of the UE 110 included in the request messagereceived from the edge enabling server 210 is an external IP address,but the PCF 135 may acquire an internal IP address of the UE 110 throughnegotiation with a NAT function server. According to an embodiment ofthe disclosure, the PCF 135 may further identify information on the UE110 (GPSI, policy information, or parameter).

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134 mayacquire profile information of the UE 110 from the UDM 137 or the UDR(not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) in operation 408. In this case, the NEF134 may make a request for informing the PCF 135 of the GPSIcorresponding to the UE IP address and the PCF 135 may replay a GPSIvalue stored for the UE corresponding to the UE IP address to the NEF134. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134 may makea request for a user profile or a UE profile for the corresponding GPSIto the UDM 137 or the UDR by using the GPSI value received from the PCF135. At this time, the NEF 134 may insert a service provider ID foridentifying an edge computing service provider received from the edgeenabling server 210 into a request message and transmit the requestmessage to the UDN 137 or the UDR.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the UDM 137 or the UDRreceiving the request message from the NEF 134 may acquire a profile ofthe UE 110 corresponding to the received GPSI, generate informationincluding the profile as a response message, and transmit the responsemessage to the NEF 134.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the UDM 137 or theUDR may acquire a profile of the UE 110 corresponding to the serviceprovider ID included in the request from the NEF 134, configureinformation including the profile as a response message, and thentransmit (reply) the response message to the NEF 134. Accordingly, theNEF 134 receiving the response message from the UDM 137 or the UDR maytransmit the response message to the edge enabling server 210 inoperation 410. As described above, the response message may include theGPSI of the corresponding UE 110 or profile information required whenthe corresponding UE 110 uses the MEC service.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 412, the edgeenabling server 210 receiving the response message may map the IPaddress which the corresponding UE 110 transmitted in operation 400 andthe GPSI received from the 3GPP system and store the mapped informationin the memory 214. The mapping information may configure and store amapping table for each application server or each UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when a profile for theGPSI of the corresponding UE, policy information, or a service parameteris received from the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabling server 210 mayapply the same to the service for the UE 110. For example, the edgeenabling server 210 may configure a premium subscriber to use allservices of the MEC service. A premium service may be a service which isnot applied to a general subscriber.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, as described above, whenthe UE 110 completes the registration procedure through the edgeenabling server 210 or completes the search for the edge applicationserver, the UE may perform data communication with the edge applicationserver 201 in operation 420.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may call an edge service API provided by the edge enablingserver 210 to the edge enabling server 210. In the specificationaccording to the disclosure, the edge service API may be an API thatprovides a capability exposure function for an edge computing service tothe 3rd application server 201 operating in infrastructure of the edgedata network to which the edge enabling server 210 belongs. For example,there may be a location API for detecting the location of the UE 110, amanagement API for managing resources of the UE 110, and a trafficsteering API for modifying a data path of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may detect edge service APIs provided by the edge enablingserver 210 through an API discovery procedure or a Common API Framework(CAPIF) function. When making a request for the edge service API to theedge enabling server 210, the edge application server 201 may includethe IP address of the UE 110 which accessed itself since the edgeapplication server cannot know the identifier of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 424, the edgeenabling server 210 receiving the request may acquire (search for) theIP address of the UE 110 included in the previously received requestmessage and the ID of the UE 110, that is, the GPSI correspondingthereto on the basis of the mapping information stored in operation 412.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may call a 3GPP network capability exposure API for supporting theedge service API requested by the edge application server 201 inoperation 422 by using the mapped GPSI information as the ID of the UE110 in operation 426. For example, the edge enabling server 210 maytransmit a request message to the NEF 134. According to an embodiment ofthe disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may configure the GPSI asthe ID of the UE 110 in the request message and transmit the requestmessage. According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when theedge enabling server 210 is a device reliable in the 3GPP network 130,the request may be directly transmitted to the AMF 133, the SMF 136, orthe PCF 135.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, whether the edge enablingserver 210 transmits the service operation request message to the AMF133, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 may be determined according to the typeof the 3GPP network capability exposure to be used by the edge enablingserver 210. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when therequest message to be transmitted by the edge enabling server 210desires information on the location of the UE 110, the edge enablingserver 210 may determine to transmit the request message to the AMF 133.According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when directly transmittingthe request to the AMF 133, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135, the edgeenabling server 210 may use the GPSI information acquired as the ID ofthe UE 110 in operation 424.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134, the AMF, theSMF 136, or the PCF 135 receiving the request message in operation 426may perform a capability exposure operation for the corresponding UE 110according to the request message. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the NEF 134, the AMF, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 performingthe capability exposure operation for the corresponding UE 110 accordingto the request message may generate the result as a response message andtransmit the response message to the edge enabling server 210 inoperation 428.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 receiving the response message may generate the result according tothe API requested by the edge application server 201 in operation 422 asa response message to be transmitted to the edge application server 201in operation 430. Thereafter, the edge enabling server 210 may transmitthe response message generated in operation 430 to the edge applicationserver 201.

Through the above operation, the edge application server 201 may acquireedge service API information provided by the edge enabling server 210.

FIG. 5 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process of providing an edgecomputing service using an identifier allocated to the UE in the MECnetwork according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

In a brief description of the overall operation of FIG. 5, when the UEperforms a registration procedure in the edge management server 140operating in the edge computing platform 200, an identifier (ID) of theUE 110 may be allocated. Thereafter, the edge management server 140 mayregister the ID as the GPSI used in the 3GPP network 130. On the basisthereof, the edge enabling server 210 may support a capability exposureAPI to the edge application server 201 by using the network capabilityexposure provided by the 3GPP network 130.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, an edge UE ID may be used as the IDof the UE. This may be an ID used for identifying the UE in the edgecomputing platform 200 which the UE accesses and may be an ID allocatedto the UE by the edge management server 140 of the edge computingplatform 200. When the ID is provided to the 3GPP network 130, it may beprovided in the form of a Generic Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI).

The ID may be an identifier of the UE used in the 5G system defined inthe 3GPP. The GPSI may correspond to an external identifier (ID) used inthe 3GPP system or a Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN)corresponding to a phone number. The external identifier is anidentifier defined to identify an identifier (ID) assigned to the UE 110by a 3rd service provider within the 3GPP mobile communication network.In the disclosure, an ID assigned to the UE 110 by an edge computingservice provider may be used as the external ID within the 3GPP system.Alternatively, an edge computing service provider may make a contactwith a 3GPP mobile communication service provider to pre-configure anexternal ID for a specific UE to be used. As described above, when thecontract with the 3GPP mobile communication service provider is made inadvance, the information may be stored in a subscriber informationserver (not shown) of the 3GPP mobile communication service provider.Alternatively, the edge computing service provider may use the MSISDN ofthe UE as the ID for identifying the UE.

Hereinafter, the edge application server is described using the firstedge application server 201 and ordinal numbers such as first, second,and the like for distinguishing application servers or identifyingapplications installed in the UE 110 are not used for convenience ofdescription

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in order to use the MECservice, the UE 110 may perform a registration procedure in the edgeenabling server 140 to use the edge computing service in operation 500.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 receiving a registration request message from the UE 110 mayallocate an edge UE ID which can be used in the edge computing platform200 which the UE 110 currently accesses in operation 502.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may store the allocated edge UE ID in an internal memory inoperation 504. The edge management server 140 may bind the informationand an IP address of the UE 110 transmitting the message in operation500 and store the information in the memory.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may transmit a response message of the registration requesttransmitted by the UE 110 to the UE 110. At this time, the responsemessage may include the edge UE ID allocated to the UE 110. According toan embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE110 may determine that the ID is an ID which the edge enabling layershould use for the corresponding edge computing service, and the ID maybe stored in the internal memory or the edge enabling layer 113.According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling layer113 of the UE 110 may use the information as its own ID for the APIrequest message transmitted to the edge management server 140 or theedge enabling server 210 in the future.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may transmit the edge UE ID successfully allocated to the UE 110 tothe edge enabling servers 210 within the same edge computing platform200 in operation 508. According to an embodiment of the disclosure,since the UE 110 may select and access the edge enabling server 210according to its own location, the ID of the UE 110 may be transmittedto the edge enabling servers 210 belonging to an area managed by theedge computing platform 200 and thus the UE 110 may be identified whenthe UE 110 accesses the edge enabling server 210 by using thecorresponding ID in the future. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, when transmitting the edge UE ID to the edge enabling server210, the edge management server 140 may also transmit a service profileor configuration information to be applied to the corresponding UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may perform an operation for configuring the edge UE ID allocated tothe UE 110 as an external ID of the 3GPP network 130 or the GPSI inoperation 510. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edgemanagement server 140 may transmit a request message for inserting theedge UE ID allocated by the edge management server into subscriptioninformation of the UE 110 through the NEF 134. According to anembodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134 may insert the edge UD IDallocated by the edge management server 140 into the subscriptioninformation of the UE 110 and store the subscription information in theUDR 137.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, for the IP address of theUE 110 acquired in operation 500, the edge management server 140 maytransmit information indicating the use of the edge UE ID allocated bythe edge management server 140 as the GPSI using the corresponding IPaddress to the PCF 135. Accordingly, the PCF 135 may configure and storethe edge UE ID as the GPSI corresponding to the IP address of the UE 110and the received edge UE ID as the GPSI of the UE 110 identified by thecorresponding IP address. According to an embodiment of the disclosure,the PCF 135 may store the edge UE ID received as the GPSI of the UE 110in the UDR 137.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may register the edge UE ID allocated to the UE 110 in a subscriberserver or a policy server of the 3GPP network 130 as the GPSI of the UE110 in operation 510. Now, the 3GPP network 130 may recognize a valuecorresponding to the edge UE ID as the GPSI and identify the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the UE 110 may perform aservice discovery procedure in the edge enabling server 210 to receiveinformation on an application by which the UE can use the MEC service.According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the UE 110 mayperform a service on-boarding procedure in the edge enabling server 210to transmit information on an application to be used for the MEC serviceby the UE in operation 512. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the UE 110 may use the edge UE ID allocated as its own ID inoperation 506 in the messages transmitted to the edge enabling server210.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may bind the edge UE ID included in the request message transmittedby the UE 110 and the ID address of the UE 110 acquired in an IP packettransmitted by the UE 110 and store the information in the memory 214 inoperation 514. Accordingly, when becoming aware of the IP address of theUE 110, the edge enabling server 210 may identify the edge UE IDcorresponding thereto.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may generate a response message corresponding to the request messagetransmitted by the UE 110 in operation 512 and transmit the responsemessage to the UE 110 in operation 516. According to an embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the UE 110 makes a request for service discovery,the edge enabling server 210 may transmit information on the edgeapplication server 201 which can be used by the UE 110. According to anembodiment of the disclosure, information on the edge applicationservers may be configured in a list form, and may include at least oneof IDs of applications which can be used by the UE 110, FQDNs for accessto the corresponding application servers, IP addresses, or otherinformation for identifying UEs.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE 110 makesa request for service on-boarding, the edge enabling server 210 mayprovide information on the edge application server 201 of which the useis requested by the UE 110. The information on the edge applicationserver 201 may include at least one of the IP address of the edgeapplication server 201, the FQDN, and the DNS server information whichcan resolve the FQDN.

Through the above operation, the UE 110 may acquire information on theedge application servers from the edge enabling server 210 and registeridentifier information to be used by the UE. The UE 110 may performtransmission and reception of data traffic to and from the edgeapplication server 201 by using the information in operation 520.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may call an edge service API provided by the edge enablingserver 210 to the edge enabling server 210 in operation 522. In thespecification of the disclosure, the edge service API may be an API thatprovides a capability exposure function for an edge computing service tothe 3rd application server operating in infrastructure of the edge datanetwork to which the edge enabling server 210 belongs. For example,there may be a location API for detecting the location of the UE 110, amanagement API for managing resources of the UE 110, and a trafficsteering API for modifying a data path of the UE 110. The edgeapplication server 201 may detect edge service APIs provided by the edgeenabling server 210 through an API discovery procedure or a Common APIFramework (CAPIF) function. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, since the edge application server 201 does not know the IDof the UE 110 when transmitting the edge service API request message tothe edge enabling server 210, the edge application server 201 maytransmit the edge service API request message including the IP addressof the UE 110 used when the UE 110 accesses the edge application server201.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 receiving the edge service API request message including the IPaddress of the UE 110 may acquire the IP address of the UE 110 includedin the edge service API request message including the IP address of theUE 110 received in operation 524 and the ID of the UE 110 correspondingthereto, that is, the edge UE ID on the basis of the mapping informationstored in operation 514.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may call a 3GPP network capability exposure API for supporting theedge service API requested by the edge application server 201 inoperation 522 by using the mapped edge UE ID as the ID of the UE 110 inthe form of a GPSI in operation 526. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may transmit a request messagefor calling the 3GPP network capability exposure API to the NEF 134 ofthe 3GPP network 13. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, theedge enabling server 210 may insert the GPSI into the request messagefor calling the 3GPP network capability exposure API as the ID of the UE110 and transmit the request message. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the edge enabling server 210 is a device reliablein the 3GPP network 130, the request message for calling the 3GPPnetwork capability exposure API may be directly transmitted to the AMF133, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, whether the edge enablingserver 210 transmits the request message for calling the 3GPP networkcapability exposure API to the AMF 133, the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 maybe determined according to the type of the 3GPP network capabilityexposure to be used by the edge enabling server 210. For example, wheninformation related to the location of the UE 110 is desired, it may bedetermined to transmit the request message to the AMF. When directlytransmitting the request message to the AMF 133, the SMF 136, or the PCF135, the edge enabling server 210 may use the GPSI information stored asthe ID of the UE 110 in operation 514.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134, the AMF 133,the SMF 136, or the PCF 135 receiving the request message for callingthe 3GPP network capability exposure API may perform a capabilityexposure operation for the corresponding UE 110 according to therequest. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the NEF 134, theAMF, the SMF, or the PCF 135 may transmit a capability exposureoperation result message to the edge enabling server 210 in operation528. The edge enabling server 210 receiving the capability exposureoperation result message in operation 528 may generate the resultaccording to the API requested by the edge application server 201 as anedge service API response message and transmit the edge service APIresponse message to the edge application server 201.

FIG. 6 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process of providing an edgecomputing service by using an identifier of the UE identified in an edgecomputing platform according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

In a brief description of the overall operation of FIG. 6, the IDidentified to be used for the UE 110 in the edge computing platform 200may be provided to the edge application server 201, and the edgeapplication server 201 may use the ID for the capability exposure API.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a plurality of User PlaneFunctions (UPFs) 132 of the 3GPP network may be connected to one edgecomputing data network (or edge data network). Hereinafter, the edgecomputing data network may be the edge data networks 161 and 162illustrated in FIG. 1B. Accordingly, the UPF 132 close to the UE 110 maybe selected according to the location of the UE 110 for one edgecomputing data network. For example, the case of the UE 110 accessingthe same edge computing data network to use the MEC service is describedwith reference to FIG. 1B. Referring to FIG. 1B, the first UE 110 mayreceive the edge computing service through the UPF 132 a which is theclosest to the first UE. At this time, when the first UE 110 moves tothe location of the second UE 120, the serving UPF of the first UE 110may be changed from the first UPF 132 a to the second UPF 132 b eventhough the first UE 110 is located within the same edge data network161.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the UPF 132 serving the UE110 may be changed, which may mean that the IP address of the UE 110 maybe changed. Accordingly, when the edge enabling server 210 or the edgemanagement server 140 manages the UE 110 on the basis of the IP addressof the UE 110, it is required to perform an operation for updatinginformation for newly identifying the UE 110 whenever the UPF 132serving the UE 110 is changed, that is, whenever the IP address of theUE 110 is changed. For example, among the embodiments of the disclosure,the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4 are needed to be performed whenever theIP address of the UE 110 is changed. This is because, if the UE 110accesses through the changed IP address, the edge enabling server 210cannot know whether the corresponding UE 110 is the previously accessedUE 110. Further, if the IP address of the UE 110 is used as anidentifier of the UE 110 when the edge application server 201 uses theedge service API, the edge enabling server 210 may use the capabilityexposure service of the 3GPP network 130 by updating binding of theidentifier corresponding to the GPSI for the corresponding UE 110whenever the IP address of the UE 110 is changed.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, after the ID of the UE 110is allocated, it is required to inform the edge application server 201of the ID of the UE 110. According to the disclosure, a method of, whenthe edge application server 201 uses the edge service API for thecorresponding UE 110, using the ID of the UE allocated to thecorresponding UE as the identifier of the UE 110 may be provided.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the above describedmethod is used, the operation of updating the GPSI information on thebasis of the IP address of the UE 110 proposed in the embodiments ofFIGS. 3 and 4 may not be performed whenever the IP address of the UE 110is changed.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in order to use the MECservice, the UE 110 may perform a registration procedure in the edgemanagement server 140 or the edge enabling server 210 to use the edgecomputing service in operation 600. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, the UE 110 may perform a service discovery procedurewith the edge enabling server 210 in order to identify 3rd applicationswhich can be used in the edge computing platform 200 which the UEaccesses to use the MEC service in operation 600. According to anotherembodiment of the disclosure, the UE 110 may perform a serviceon-boarding procedure in the edge enabling server 210 to transmitinformation on an application to be used for the MEC service by the UEin operation 600. According to another embodiment of the disclosure, theUE 110 may inform of an application used by the UE through the servicediscovery procedure with the edge management server 140 or the edgeenabling server 210. The UE 110 may acquire information on theapplication to be used (for example, the FQDN of the application server,the IP address of the application server, the DNS server address fordiscovering the corresponding application server, and the like) from theedge management server 140 or the edge enabling server 210 as the resultthereof.

As described above, when transmitting the message of operation 600 tothe edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server 210, the UE110 may use the GPSI information which the UE has. As described above,the use of the GPSI information which the UE 110 has may be performed bythe control of the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 or the edge enabling server 210 may allocate the edge UE ID whichthe UE 110 should use through at least one of the above-describedprocedures. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the embodimentof FIG. 5 may be used. According to another embodiment of thedisclosure, the edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server210 may allocate the GPSI information transmitted in operation 600 tothe edge UE ID of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 or the edge enabling server 210 may identify the GPSI of the UE 110with the 3GPP network 130 or store the GPSI of the UE 110 in the 3GPPnetwork 130 according to the embodiments of FIGS. 3, 4, and 5.Alternatively, after acquiring the GPSI for the corresponding UE 110through the method according to the embodiment of FIG. 4 on the basis ofthe IP address transmitted by the UE 110 in operation 600, the edgemanagement server 140 or the edge enabling server 210 may use the GPSIas the edge UE ID of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 or the edge enabling server 210 may transmit a response message tothe UE 110 transmitting the request message of operation 600, allocatean edge UE ID which the UE 110 should use to the response message, andtransmit the response message. According to an embodiment of thedisclosure, the edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server210 may store the edge UE ID, which is included in the response messageand should be used by the UE 110, in the memory.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge UE ID may be aGPSI transmitted by the UE 110 using the request message in operation600, a GPSI identified by the 3GPP network 130, or a value allocated bythe edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server 210. The edgemanagement server 140 may transmit the ID of the UE 110 allocated by theedge management server to the edge enabling servers 210.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when allocating the edgeUE ID, the edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server 210may consider the following matters.

First, the edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server 210may allocate the edge UE ID for identifying the UE 110 for each 3rdapplication reported to be used by the UE 110. For example, identifiersof the UE 110 to be used by a first edge application (edge application1) 201 and a second edge application (edge application 2) 202 areallocated independently for edge application 1 and edge application 2,and thus different values may be allocated. In a specific case, eventhough the same value is allocated to edge application 1 and edgeapplication 2, edge application 1 and edge application 2 cannotrecognize that the identifiers of the UE 110 are the same as each other.As a result, it is possible to prevent each edge application from beingaware of the identifier of the UE used by the other edge application. Inorder to allocate different identifiers of the UE to the respective edgeapplications, the edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server210 may use a randomly generated value, which may be mapped to the ID ofthe edge application and stored. The value may be used by the edgemanagement server 140 or the edge enabling server 210 when the edgeapplication makes a request for the identifier of the UE 110 requiredfor using the edge service API. For example, when the edge applicationmakes a request for the identifier of the UE 110 required for using theedge service API, the edge management server 140 or the edge enablingserver 210 may use the value when transmitting the identifier value ofthe UE 110 allocated for the corresponding edge application as aresponse.

Second, the edge management server 140 or the edge enabling server 210may allocate the edge UE ID for identifying the UE for a value to beused between the UE 110 and the edge management server 140 or betweenthe UE 110 and the edge enabling server 210. In other words, the edgemanagement server 140 or the edge enabling server 210 may allocate theedge UE ID for identifying the UE 110 and transmit the same through aresponse message. However, the allocated edge UE ID may not be used forthe API between the edge management server 140 and the edge applicationor the API between the edge enabling server 210 and the edgeapplication. When allocating the identifier of the UE 110 which shouldbe used by the edge application for the edge service API, the edgeenabling server 210 may allocate different identifiers for respectiveedge applications and transmit the identifiers to the edge applicationson the basis of the allocated edge UE ID. That is, the identifier usedbetween the UE 110 and the edge management server 140 or the UE 110 andthe edge enabling server 210 and the identifier used between the edgeenabling server 210 and the edge application may be separately allocatedand managed. This is to protect privacy of the identifier of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 502, the edgeenabling server 210 may identify the edge application server 201 whichthe UE 110 desires to use on the basis of the service discovery orservice on-boarding request performed by the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operation 610, operation620, or operation 630 may be independently performed, and only operation610 may be performed, only operation 620 may be performed, or onlyoperation 630 may be performed as necessary. According to anotherembodiment of the disclosure, operation 610, operation 620, or operation630 may be sequentially or selectively performed.

First, operation 610 is described.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may identify whether there is the edge application server 201 makinga request for a subscribe operation to know the ID of the UE 110 inoperation 612.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, if the edgeapplication server 201 has instantiated in the edge computing platform200 and starts operating in operation 612, the edge enabling server 210may perform a registration procedure therein (enablement). At this time,the edge enabling server 210 may also make a configuration indicatingreception of a notification for the ID of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when it is determined thatthere is the edge application server 201 making a request for thesubscribe operation of informing of the ID of the UE 110 or there isinformation set to inform the edge application server 201 of the ID ofthe UE 110, the edge enabling server 210 may transmit a message forinforming the corresponding edge application server(s) 201 of the ID ofthe UE 110. This may be operated on the basis of an API.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 determining to inform the edge application server 201 of the ID ofthe UE 110 may transmit an API-based message for informing thecorresponding edge application server 201 of the ID of the UE 110 inoperation 614. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the message isreferred to as a UE identification notification message. However, whenthe message is a message used to inform the edge application server 201of the ID of the UE by the edge enabling server 201, the message may beidentically understood even though a name different form the namedescribed in the disclosure is used. The edge enabling server 210 mayinclude the ID of the UE 110, that is, the edge UE ID according to anembodiment of the disclosure in the UE identification notificationmessage. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enablingserver 210 may include the IP address of the UE 110 in order to indicatean IP address of the UE 110 using the corresponding edge UE ID. The IPaddress may be the IP address acquired from the UE 110 in operation 600.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 receiving the UE identification notification message may bindand store an edge UE ID which should be used for the IP of thecorresponding UE 110 in operation 616. Although the IP address of the UE110 is changed and the UE accesses the edge application servertherethrough in the future, the edge application server 201 may identifythe UE 110 using a corresponding TCP session or application session onthe basis of the edge UE ID, and accordingly may newly bind the changedIP address of the UE 110 with the edge UE ID of the UE 110 and store theinformation. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edgeapplication server 201 may use the edge UE ID for the edge service APIoperation with the edge enabling server 210. According to an embodimentof the disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 may identify the UE 110on the basis of the edge UE ID included in the edge service API message.

Subsequently, operation 620 is described.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when using the edgeservice API, the edge application server 201 may transmit a UEidentifier request message making a request for the identifier of the UE110 for identifying the UE 110 to the edge enabling server 210 inoperation 622. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edgeapplication server 201 may use the edge service API through the IPaddress of the UE 110. However, when the IP address of the UE 110 ischanged, if the edge enabling server 210 does not know the changed IPaddress of the UE 110, the edge enabling server 210 receives the edgeservice API requested using the IP address of the UE 110 and then cannotidentify which UE 110 made the request. Accordingly, the edgeapplication server 201 is required to acquire the identifier of the UE110 to be used regardless of the IP address of the UE 110. To this end,according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may transmit information for identifying the UE 110, that is,an API message for acquiring the ID of the UE 110 to the edge enablingserver 210.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge applicationserver 201 may include the IP address of the UE 110 accessing the edgeapplication server in the UE identifier request message. The identifierfor identifying the UE 110 initially is only the IP address of the UE110. After accessing the edge enabling server 210 to acquire informationon the edge application server 201, the UE 110 may access the edgeapplication server 201 to perform data communication, and when the edgeapplication server 201 starts data communication with the correspondingUE 110, perform operation 622 to acquire the ID of the UE 110 for the IPaddress of the corresponding UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 receiving the UE identifier request message in operation 622 mayidentify the UE for the IP address of the UE 110 included in the messagein operation 624. This may be based on the information acquired as theresult in operation 600. When the UE for the IP address of the UE 110included in the UE identifier request message of operation 622 cannot befound, the edge enabling server 210 may determine that the correspondingUE 110 is not the UE 110 accessing the edge computing platform 200. Inthis case, the edge enabling server 210 may transmit failure informationindicating that the ID of the corresponding UE 110 cannot be informed tothe edge application server 201.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, after accessing the edgeenabling server 210, the UE 110 may receive information on the edgeapplication server 201 and start data communication with thecorresponding edge application server 201. In this case, possibility ofthe change in the IP address due to the change in the location of the UE110 is significantly low. Accordingly, when the edge enabling server 210cannot identify the UE 110 through the IP address of the UE 110 receivedfrom the edge application server 201, it is highly likely that the UE isthe UE 110 which has not accessed the corresponding edge computingplatform 200. Accordingly, the edge UE ID cannot be allocated to thecorresponding UE 110.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, even though the edgeenabling server 210 cannot identify the IP address of the UE 110received in operation 622, the edge enabling server 210 may temporarilystore the corresponding IP address with the edge application server 201making a request for the corresponding IP address. When the UE 110performs a new procedure in the edge enabling server 210 due to thechange in the IP address in the future, the edge enabling server 210 maycompare the IP address of the UE 110 received in the new procedure withthe temporarily stored IP address according to the operation.Accordingly, when the two IP addresses are the same as each other, theedge application server 210 may bind and store the edge UE ID for the UE110 having the IP address. According to an embodiment of the disclosure,since the edge enabling server 210 also stores information on the edgeapplication server 201 having made the request for the stored temporaryIP address, the edge enabling server may determine to transmit the newlybound edge UE ID to the corresponding edge application server 201.Accordingly, the edge enabling server 210 may inform the edgeapplication server 201 of the ID of the UE 110 in operation 626 oroperation 614.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, after searching for theedge UE ID for the IP address of the UE 110 included in the message ofoperation 622, the edge enabling server 210 may insert the informationinto a response message in operation 626 and transmit the responsemessage to the edge application server 201 in operation 626. The edgeapplication server 201 receiving the response message may use thereceived edge UE ID information as the identifier of the UE 110 whenmaking a request for an edge service API for the UE 110 in the future.Accordingly, even though the IP address of the UE 110 accessing the edgeapplication server 201 is changed, the edge application server 201 maycall the edge service API by using the edge UE ID, and the edge enablingserver 210 may perform an edge service API operation on the basis of thereceived edge UE ID.

In another example, after searching for the identifier of the UE for theIP address of the UE 110 included in the message of operation 622, theedge enabling server 210 may allocate the identifier of the UE to betransmitted to the edge application server 201 in operation 626. Thiscase may correspond to a state in which the edge UE ID for identifyingthe UE, that is, the edge UD ID allocated to the UE in operation 600 hasbeen allocated and there is no identifier of the UE to be used betweenthe edge application server 201 and the edge enabling server 210. Thatis, as described above, the UE identifier used between the UE 110 andthe edge enabling server 210 and the identifier used between the edgeenabling server 210 and the edge application server 201 are different.For example, the UE identifier used between the UE 110 and the edgeenabling server 210 is configured as “AAA” and the identifier usedbetween the edge enabling server 210 and the second edge applicationserver 202 is not configured. In this case, the edge enabling server 210may configure the identifier to be used between the edge enabling server210 and the second edge application server 202 as “ABC”.

In another example, the case may correspond to the case in which the UEidentifier used between the UE 110 and the edge enabling server 210 isconfigured as “AAA” and the identifier to be used between the edgeenabling server 210 and the second edge application server 202 isconfigured as “ABC”, but the identifier to be used with the first edgeapplication server 201 is not configured. In this case, the edgeenabling server 210 may configure the identifier to be used between theedge enabling server 210 and the first edge application server 201 as“CDAB”. “AAA”, “ABC”, “CDAB”, and the like may be used to indicatespecific identifier values, but values according to each system orstandard may be configured in the real system. At this time, the edgeenabling server 210 may separately allocate the edge UE ID foridentifying the UE 110 for each 3rd application. For example, byallocating different identifiers of the UE to be used for edgeapplication 1 and edge application 2, it is possible to prevent eachedge application from becoming aware of the identifier of the UE used bythe other edge application. In order to allocate different identifiersof the UE 110 to the respective edge applications, the edge enablingserver 210 may use a randomly generated value, which may be mapped tothe ID of the edge application and stored. Further, the edge enablingserver 210 may bind the edge UE ID allocated for each edge applicationto the identifier of the corresponding UE 110 (For example, the GPSI orthe identifier mutually identified between the edge enabling server 210and the UE) and store the bound information. Accordingly, the edgeenabling server 210 may identify which UE is indicated by thecorresponding ID for the edge UE ID allocated to the edge application onthe basis of the bound information. In other words, the edge managementserver 140 or the edge enabling server 210 may internally store the edgeUE ID for identifying the UE 110 but may not use the edge UE ID in theAPI with the edge application. When allocating the identifier of the UEwhich should be used by the edge application for the edge service API,the edge enabling server 210 may allocate different identifiers forrespective edge applications and transmit the identifiers to the edgeapplications on the basis of the allocated edge UE ID. That is, theidentifier used between the UE 110 and the edge management server 140 orthe edge enabling server 210 and the identifier used between the edgeenabling server 210 and the edge application may be separately allocatedand managed. This is to protect privacy of the identifier of the UE 110.In the disclosure, the UE identifier used between the edge applicationand the edge enabling server 210 is also referred to as the edge UE ID,but the value may be a different value between the UE 110 and the edgeenabling server 210 and between the edge enabling server 210 and theedge application 201. The mapping or binding information may be storedin the edge enabling server 210. After performing the allocationprocedure, the edge enabling server 210 may insert the identifier (edgeUE ID in the figure) of the UE allocated for each edge application intothe response message and transmit the response message to the edgeapplication server 201. The edge application server 201 receiving theresponse message may use the received edge UE ID information as theidentifier of the UE 110 when making a request for an edge service APIfor the UE 110 in the future.

Last, operation 630 is described.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may determine whether mapping of the edge UE ID and the IP addressinformation of the UE 110 is changed in operation 632. According toanother embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 maychange the edge UE ID for the UE 110 in which case it may be determinedthat mapping of the edge UE ID and the IP address information ischanged. When the IP address is changed, the edge enabling server 210may identify the change through a new procedure. For example, when theedge enabling server 210 performs a registration procedure, a servicediscovery procedure, or a service on-boarding procedure with the UE 110,the UE 110 may include the edge UE ID (which may be the same as the GPSIvalue) allocated or used by the UE in the message transmitted to theedge enabling server 210 to perform the procedure. Accordingly, the edgeenabling server 210 may identify whether the IP address of the UE 110 ischanged on the basis of the IP address of the UE 110 transmitting thecorresponding message and the edge UE ID included in the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the IP address of theUE 110 is changed, the edge enabling server 210 may bind the changed IPaddress of the UE 110 to the edge UE ID and store the information in thememory 214. According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the edgeenabling server 210 may allocate a new edge UE ID to the UE 110 andstore the newly allocated edge UE ID in the memory 214. This may occurdue to a security issue, for example, exposure of the ID to the outside,or allocation of a new ID because of failure of an authentication of theUE 110.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, due to the change inthe IP address of the UE 110, the edge enabling server 210 may allocatea new edge UE ID for the changed IP address. The edge enabling server210 may allocate the new edge UE ID, bind the edge UE ID to the IPaddress of the UE 110, and store the bound information in the memory214.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when binding informationof the edge UE ID and the IP address of the UE 110 is updated, the edgeenabling server 210 may inform the edge application server 201 of theupdate in operation 634. A UE identifier notification message to betransmitted to the edge application server 201 may include the edge UEID or the IP address of the UE 110. The edge application server 201receiving the UE identifier notification message may determine to usethe edge UE ID received for the IP address of the UE 110 included in themessage and store the same. Accordingly, when the UE 110 accesses theedge application server 201 to perform data communication, if the datacommunication is performed using the IP address of the UE 110 includedin the message, the edge application server 201 may determine the edgeUE ID for the corresponding IP address and call an edge service APIthrough the edge UE ID in operation 636.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may change the identifier of the UE 110 allocated to the edgeapplication server 201 in operation 632. For example, the edge enablingserver 210 may update the identifier of the UE 110 allocated for eachedge application to a new value. The allocation of the new value may beperformed to maintain security of the identifier of the corresponding UEor, when the identifier for identifying the UE 110 is changed or the IPaddress of the UE 110 is changed, to provide a new identifier of the UEcorresponding thereto to the edge application server 201. Wheninformation on the identifier of the UE which the edge applicationserver 201 should use is updated, the edge enabling server 210 mayinform the edge application server 201 of the update. The UE identifiernotification message to be transmitted to the edge application server201 may include the updated edge UE ID of the UE 110, the IP address ofthe UE 110, or user information which can be identified by the edgeapplication server 201 (for example, an identifier of a user using theedge application, a user ID, user information for identifying thecorresponding user, for example, an email address of the user, an ID ofthe user, or a reference value allocated to the application client ofthe UE by the application server). The edge application server 201receiving the UE identifier notification message may know which UE isidentified on the basis of the user information included in the message,determine to use the updated edge UE ID included in the message for theUE, and store the edge UE ID. Thereafter, the edge application server201 may call the edge service API provided by the edge enabling server210 on the basis of the updated edge UE ID.

When the identifier of the UE allocated for each edge application isupdated, the edge enabling server 210 may update a new identifier foreach of all edge applications or update a new identifier for only someedge applications. The edge enabling server 210 may transmit anidentifier update message of the UE 110 to the corresponding edgeapplication server 201 for the edge application of which the identifieris updated in operation 634.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 recognizes the edge application which the UE does not useanymore, the edge enabling server may inform the edge application server201 corresponding to the corresponding edge application that the edgeservice API cannot be used anymore. After receiving a request such asapplication discovery or the like requested by the UE 110 (or the edgeenabling layer 113), the edge enabling server 210 may know the edgeapplication which the corresponding UE 110 desires to use and the edgeapplication which the UE 110 does not use anymore. An application whichthe UE 110 (or the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE 110) included inthe previous request but does not include in the application discoveryrequest message which the UE (or the edge enabling layer 113 of the UE110) transmits to the edge enabling server 210 may be identified, and itmay be determined that the corresponding application is not used by theUE 110 anymore. Alternatively, the UE 110 (or the edge enabling layer113 of the UE 110) may designate an application which the UE does notuse anymore in the application discovery request message and transmitthe application discovery request message to the edge enabling server210. The edge enabling server 210 receiving the application discoveryrequest message may determine that the corresponding UE 110 does not usethe edge application anymore. After determining the applicationdetermined not to be used by the UE 110, the edge enabling server 210may transmit a message to the edge application server 201 executing thecorresponding edge application to prevent the use of the edge serviceAPI used for the corresponding UE 110. The edge enabling server 210receiving the message may include the identifier of the UE 110previously transmitted to the edge application server 201 and anindicator indicating that the use of the edge service API for thecorresponding UE 110 is not possible anymore. The edge applicationserver 201 receiving the message may identify the identifier of the UEincluded in the message and identify the indicator indicating that theuse of the edge service API for the corresponding UE 110 is not possibleanymore in the message. Accordingly, the edge application server 201 maydetermine that the use of the edge service API for the corresponding UE110 is not possible and may not make a request for the edge service APIfor the corresponding UE to the edge enabling server 210 anymore.

In another method, the edge enabling server 210 may insert theidentifier of the UE previously transmitted to the edge applicationserver 201 into the message and include an indicator indicating that theidentifier of the corresponding UE 110 is not valid anymore. The edgeapplication server 201 receiving the message may identify the identifierof the UE included in the message, and identify the indicator indicatingthat the identifier of the corresponding UE is not valid anymore in themessage. Accordingly, the edge application server 201 may determine thatthe use of the edge service API for the corresponding UE 110 is notpossible and may not make a request for the edge service API for thecorresponding UE to the edge enabling server 210 anymore.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are control flowcharts illustrating a process in whichthe edge enabling server manages the identifier of the UE capable ofreceiving the MEC service according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive an edge service registration message or an edge servicediscovery message from the UE 110. At this time, the edge serviceregistration message or the edge service discovery message may includethe GPSI of the UE 110. Accordingly, the edge enabling server 210 maycheck whether validity can be identified on the basis of the GPSIincluded in the message in operation 702. For example, the edge enablingserver 210 may receive a user profile of the UE 110 in advance. The userprofile may be received when the authentication/authorization operationof the UE 110 is performed in advance. Accordingly, the edge enablingserver 210 may determine whether validity of the GPSI can be identifiedby checking whether profile information corresponding to the GPSIreceived in operation 700 is pre-stored. When there is pre-storedprofile information, the edge enabling server 210 may perform operation704 and, when there is no pre-stored profile information, performoperation 720.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, it may be determined thatthe validity check of the GPSI is performed even when the profile of theUE 110 is not received but only the GPSI of the corresponding UE isreceived in the authentication/authorization operation. According to anembodiment of the disclosure, when the GPSI received in operation 700 isthe same as the pre-stored GPSI, it may be identified that the GPSI isvalid in the validity check.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may bind the valid GPSI to the IP of the UE received in operation700 and store the bound information in the memory 214 in operation 704.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may identify whether the message received in operation 700 is aregistration message or a service discovery message in operation 706.When the message received in operation 700 is a registration message,the edge enabling server 210 may generate a response message to betransmitted to the UE 110 and transmit the response message to the UE inoperation 708. On the other hand, when the message received in operation700 is a service discovery message, the edge enabling server 210 maygenerate information on a 3rd application which can be used through theedge computing service and information for accessing to a 3rdapplication server (for example, FQDN or IP address) as a responsemessage and transmit the response message to the UE in operation 712.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enablingserver 210 may transmit a message making a request for GPSI information(or profile information) to the 3GPP network 130 in operation 720. Theedge enabling server 210 may or may not be reliable in the 3GPP network130.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 is reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabling servermay directly transmit a request message to an entity for managinginformation in the 3GPP network 130. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the edge enabling server 210 is not reliable in the3GPP network 130, the edge enabling server may make a request fortransmitting a message through the NEF 134 of the 3GPP network 130.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive the response message directly from a specific entity ofthe 3GPP network 130 or through the NEF 134 in operation 722. Theresponse message may include GPSI information of the UE or profileinformation of the UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may identify whether the GPSI information of the UE is validinformation on the basis of the GPSI information received in operation700 and the information received while being included in the responsemessage in operation 722.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the GPSI informationof the UE is valid on the basis of the identification result ofoperation 724, the edge enabling server 210 may store the GPSI in thememory 214 in operation 726. On the other hand, when the GPSIinformation of the UE is not valid on the basis of the identificationresult of operation 724, the edge enabling server 210 may generate anerror message and transmit the error message to the UE in operation 728.The error message transmission may be omitted if unnecessary.

FIG. 8 is a control flowchart illustrating a process in which the edgeenabling server provides information on the UE to the edge applicationserver according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Prior to the description of FIG. 8, the edge enabling server 210 mayreceive or acquire and store UE identifier information as illustrated inFIG. 7 above, and may acquire the UE identifier information from the3GPP network 130 if necessary.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive an edge service API request message for a specific UEfrom the edge application server 201 in operation 800. At this time, theedge service API request message may include IP information of the UE.Accordingly, the edge enabling server 210 may acquire GPSI informationon the basis of the pre-acquired IP address of the UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may transmit a service operation request message (3GPP networkcapability exposure API) including the GPSI to the 3GPP network.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 is reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabling servermay directly transmit a request message to an entity for managinginformation in the 3GPP network 130. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the edge enabling server 210 is not reliable in the3GPP network 130, the edge enabling server may make a request fortransmitting a message through the NEF 134 of the 3GPP network 130.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive the service operation response message through the NEF134 of the 3GPP network 130 or directly from an entity having thecorresponding information in operation 820. As described above, whenreceiving the service operation response message from the GPP network130, the edge enabling server 210 may generate an edge service APIresponse message and transmit the same to the edge application server201 in operation 830.

FIG. 9A is a control flowchart illustrating a process in which the edgemanagement server allocates an identifier to the UE according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9A, the edge management server 140 may receive aregistration request message from a specific UE in operation 500.According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may allocate an edge UE ID which can be used in the edge computingplatform 200 which the UE 110 currently accesses. According to anembodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server 140 may bindthe IP Address of the UE received from the UE in operation 900 to theallocated edge UE ID and store the found information in the memory inoperation 902. Further, the edge management server 140 may insert theallocated edge UE ID into a response message and transmit the responsemessage to the corresponding UE in operation 902. Accordingly, the edgeUE ID may be allocated to the UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may transmit a message to the edge enabling servers 210 within theedge computing platform 200 in operation 904.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge management server140 may perform an operation for configuring the edge UE ID allocated tothe UE as an external ID of the 3GPP network 130 or the GPSI inoperation 906. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edgemanagement server 140 may transmit a request message for inserting theedge UE ID allocated by the edge management server into subscriptioninformation of the UE 110 through the NEF 134.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, for the IP address ofthe UE 110 acquired in operation 900, the edge management server 140 maytransmit information indicating the use of the edge UE ID allocated bythe edge management server 140 as the GPSI using the corresponding IPaddress to the PCF 135.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the edge managementserver 140 may make a request for registering the edge UE ID allocatedto the UE as the GPSI of the UE to a subscriber server or a policyserver of the 3GPP network 130 in operation 906. Accordingly, the 3GPPnetwork 130 may recognize a value corresponding to the edge UD IE as theGPSI and thus may identify the UE on the basis of the GPSI.

FIG. 9B is a control flowchart illustrating a process in which the edgeenabling server provides an edge service API from an edge applicationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive an edge service API request message from the edgeapplication server 201 in operation 910. In the specification of thedisclosure, the edge service API request message may be an API thatprovides a capability exposure function for an edge computing service toa 3rd application server operating in infrastructure of the edge datanetwork to which the edge enabling server 210 belongs. For example,there may be a location API for detecting the location of the UE 110, amanagement API for managing resources of the UE 110, and a trafficsteering API for modifying a data path of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may search for and acquire the identifier of the UE, that is, theGPSI by using the IP of the UE in operation 912. The GPSI may beinformation received from the application management server 140 andpre-stored in FIG. 9A above.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 914, the edgeenabling server 210 may transmit a service operation request (Nnefservice operation request) message to a specific entity of the 3GPPnetwork 130 by using the mapped edge UE ID information as the ID of theUE 110 in the GPSI form. At this time, the GPSI may be inserted into therequest message as the ID of the UE and transmitted.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when transmitting theservice operation request (Nnef service operation request) message tothe 3GPP network 130 in operation 914, the edge enabling server 210 mayor may not be reliable in the 3GPP network 130.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, when the edge enablingserver 210 is reliable in the 3GPP network 130, the edge enabling servermay directly transmit a request message to an entity for managinginformation in the 3GPP network 130. According to another embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the edge enabling server 210 is not reliable in the3GPP network 130, the edge enabling server may make a request fortransmitting a message through the NEF 134 of the 3GPP network 130.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive an Nnef service operation response message from the 3GPPnetwork 130 in operation 916.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may generate an edge service API response message on the basis ofthe message received in operation 916 and transmit the edge service APIresponse message to the edge application server 201 in operation 918.

FIGS. 10A to 10C are control flowcharts illustrating a process in whichthe edge enabling server manages an identifier to allow the mobilecommunication UE to receive the MEC service according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10A, the edge enabling server 210 may perform aregistration procedure to use an edge computing service from the UE, aservice discovery procedure to identify 3rd applications which can beused in the edge computing platform 200 which the edge enabling serveraccesses in order to use the MEC service, or a service on-boardingprocedure to transmit information on an application to be used for theMEC service in operation 1000.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in this case, the edgeenabling server 210 may identify an edge application server which the UEdesires to use by using information included in the previously receivedmessage in operation 1002.

Thereafter, the edge enabling server 210 may identify whether there isan edge application server making a request for a UE identifier inoperation 1004.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, when the edgeapplication server 201 has instantiated in the edge computing platform200 and starts operating, the edge enabling server 210 may perform aregistration procedure therein (enablement). At this time, the edgeenabling server 210 may also make a configuration indicating receptionof a notification for the ID of the UE. According to an embodiment ofthe disclosure, when the edge enabling server 210 determines that thereis an edge application server 201 making a request for an subscribeoperation for being informed of the ID of the UE or there is informationconfigured to inform the edge application server 201 of the ID of UE,operation 1006 may be performed.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may transmit a message for informing the corresponding edgeapplication server(s) 201 of the ID of the UE 110 in operation 1006.This may be operated on the basis of an API.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 determining to inform the edge application server 201 of the ID ofthe UE may transmit an API-based message for informing of the ID of theUE 110 to the corresponding edge application server 201 in operation1006. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the message is referred to asa UE identification notification message. However, when the message is amessage used to inform the edge application server 201 of the ID of theUE by the edge enabling server 210, the message may be identicallyunderstood even though a name different form the name described in thedisclosure is used. The edge enabling server 210 may include the ID ofthe UE, that is, the edge UE ID according to an embodiment of thedisclosure in the UE identification notification message. According toan embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server 210 mayinclude the IP address of the UE in order to indicate an IP address ofthe UE using the corresponding edge UE ID. This may be the IP addressacquired from the UE in operation 1000.

Referring to FIG. 10B, operation 1000 and operation 1002 in FIG. 10B maybe operations that are the same as the operation described above withreference to FIG. 10A. Accordingly, an additional description is omittedin the embodiment of FIG. 10B.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may receive a UE identifier request message for identifying the UEto use the edge service API from the edge application server 201 inoperation 1010. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the UEidentifier request message may use the edge service API using the IPaddress of the UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the UE identifier requestmessage may include the IP address of the UE accessing the edgeapplication server 201. The identifier for identifying the UE 110initially is only the IP address of the UE 110.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, in operation 1012, theedge enabling server 210 may search for and acquire the edge UE IDcorresponding to the IP address of the UE included in the informationacquired in operation 1000 and the message received in operation 1010.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the edge enabling server210 may generate a response message including the acquired edge UE IDand transmit the response message to the edge application server 201 inoperation 1014.

Referring to FIG. 10C, as described above, operation 1000 and operation1002 may be operations that are the same as the operation described withreference to FIG. 10A. Accordingly, a description of the same operationis omitted.

The edge enabling server 210 may determine that mapping of the edge UEID and the IP address information of the UE therefor is changed inoperation 1020. According to another embodiment of the disclosure, theedge enabling server 210 may change the edge UE ID for the UE anddetermine that mapping of the edge UE ID and the IP address informationtherefor is changed. When the IP address is changed, the edge enablingserver 210 may identify the change through a new procedure. For example,when the edge enabling server 210 performs a registration procedure, aservice discovery procedure, or a service on-boarding procedure with theUE, the UE may include the edge UE ID (which may be the same as the GPSIvalue) allocated or used by the UE in the message transmitted to theedge enabling server 210 to perform the procedure. Accordingly, the edgeenabling server 210 may identify whether the IP address of the UE ischanged on the basis of the IP address of the UE transmitting thecorresponding message and the edge UE ID included in the UE.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, since the UE identifier ischanged in operation 1022, the edge enabling server 210 may transmit thechanged edge UE ID and/or IP address of the UE to the application server201 in operation 1022.

FIG. 11 is an internal diagram of the edge enabler server according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11, the edge enabler server 120 may include an edgeenabler server controller 1110, an edge enabler server memory 1120, andan edge enabler server communication unit 1130 therein. In the case ofthe edge enabler server 120 illustrated in FIG. 11, the edge applicationservers operate in a separate server unlike in FIG. 2.

The edge enabler server controller 1110 may be implemented by at leastone processor and may perform the above-described control operation. Forexample, the edge enabler server controller may perform control toallocate an identifier of the UE, authenticate an identifier of the UEthrough the 3GPP network, or transmit and receive a message to and fromthe edge application server 201 within the edge platform.

The edge enabler server memory 1120 may store mapping or boundinformation between control information controlled by the edge enablerserver 120 and identifier information of a specific UE.

The edge enabler server communication unit 1130 may transmit and receivesignals and/or messages between the edge enabler server 120 and othernodes within the network, for example, the UE, a specific node of the3GPP network, and various servers within the edge platform.

FIG. 12 is an internal block diagram of the UE according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12, the UE may include a UE controller 1210, a UEtransceiver 1220, and a UE memory 1230. In addition, the UE may includea display (not shown), a key (not shown), and a touch screen for a userinterface therein.

The UE controller 1210 may be implemented by at least one processor, andmay perform control to execute all operations described in thedisclosure. Particularly, the UE controller may control execution ofapplications. Further, the UE controller may control the operation ofthe edge enabling layers 113 and 123 of the disclosure.

The UE transceiver 1220 may include a wireless processor capable ofaccessing the mobile communication network and at least onecommunication processor for performing the control required by themobile communication network. The UE transceiver may include 3GPPcommunication layers 114 and 124 in FIG. 1A above.

The UE memory 1230 may store a program for the operation of the UE, aprogram stored by the user, applications according to the disclosure,and control data for the operation of the edge enabling layer.

Further, the embodiments of the disclosure described and shown in thespecification and the drawings have been presented to easily explain thetechnical contents of the disclosure and help understanding of thedisclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.Therefore, the scope of the disclosure should be construed to include,in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein, all changes andmodifications derived on the basis of the technical idea of thedisclosure.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The disclosure may be used when an MEC system is applied.

1. A method of managing an identifier of a UE by an edge enabler serverin an edge computing system, the method comprising: receiving, from theUE of a mobile communication system through a mobile communicationnetwork, a first message including a Generic Public SubscriptionIdentifier (GPSI) of the UE; identifying validity of the receivedidentifier of the UE, based on a pre-received profile of the UE; bindingand storing an IP address of the UE based on the received first messageand the identifier of the UE when the identifier of the UE is valid; andtransmitting, to the UE, a first response message when the identifier ofthe UE is valid.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message isone of a registration message or a service discovery message for usingan edge computing service.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the firstresponse message is a registration response approval message if thefirst message is the registration message and is a response message fora type of an edge application service if the first message is theservice discovery message.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein theresponse message for the type of the edge application service includesinformation for accessing a corresponding application server.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, to a first networkentity of the mobile communication network, a second message making arequest for the profile of the UE, if there is no GPSI corresponding tothe UE in the pre-received profile of the UE; and receiving, from thefirst network entity, a second response message including the GPSIcorresponding to the UE.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the secondmessage further includes the IP address of the UE.
 7. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the second response message further includes policyinformation for the UE and a service parameter.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: updating binding of the GPSI and the changed IPaddress of the UE when the IP address of the UE is changed.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first response message further includesedge computing service identifier information by which the UE receivesan edge computing service.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein differentpieces of the edge computing service identifier information areallocated to respective applications.
 11. An apparatus of an edgeenabler server in an edge computing system, the apparatus comprising: aninterface configured to communicate with a mobile communication network;a memory configured to store an identifier of a UE in the mobilecommunication network; and at least one processor, wherein the at leastone processor control to: receive, from the UE in the mobilecommunication system through the interface, a first message including aGeneric Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI) of the UE, identifyvalidity of the received identifier of the UE, based on a pre-receivedprofile of the UE, bind an IP address of the UE based on the receivedfirst message and the identifier of the UE when the identifier of the UEis valid and store the bound information in the memory, and transmit, tothe UE through the interface, a first response message when theidentifier of the UE is valid.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, whereinthe first message is one of a registration message or a servicediscovery message for using an edge computing service.
 13. The apparatusof claim 12, wherein the first response message is a registrationresponse approval message when the first message is the registrationmessage and is a response message for a type of an edge applicationservice when the first message is the service discovery message.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 13, wherein the response message for the type of theedge application service includes information for accessing acorresponding application server.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, whereinthe at least one processor further control to: transmit, to a firstnetwork entity of the mobile communication network through theinterface, a second message making a request for the profile of the UEif there is no GPSI corresponding to the UE in the pre-received profileof the UE, and receive, from the first network entity through the firstinterface a second response message including the GPSI corresponding tothe UE.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second messagefurther includes the IP address of the UE.
 17. The apparatus of claim15, wherein the second response message further includes policyinformation for the UE and a service parameter.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the at least one processor further control to: updatebinding of the GPSI and the changed IP address of the UE when the IPaddress of the UE is changed.
 19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein thefirst response message further includes edge computing serviceidentifier information by which the UE receives an edge computingservice.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein different pieces of theedge computing service identifier information are allocated torespective applications.